Were early hunter gatherers competitive or cooperative?

Question

Would you say that early hunting/gathering cultures were based more on cooperation or competition?

any sources would be nice.

Answer 1

Early?  Later?  Modern?  The society of hunter-gathers has probably not change much in 12,000 years.  The concept is not just about food, but resources in general.  Small bands or tribes moving through their environment (often in seasonal patterns) and using as many different resources as possible (as opposed to heavy exploiting just a few resources).

This would include plants, animals, fish and other aquatic species including shellfish, minerals and water for drinking and washing.  The individual band or tribe would need very good cooperation among members as the hunting, fishing and gathering were usually specialized tasks.

Within this cooperative framework, however, there is usually some degree of competition.  Special favors or "first pick" usually went those who were better at their tasks than others.  The sweetest, ripest berries were eaten, not carried home.  The fish eggs or eyes might go to the one who caught them.  The choisest cuts or perhaps the liver to the hunter who brought down a large mamal.

Some tasks, such as the gathering of minerals including soft rocks (like soap stone)  or hard flint-like stones or nodules for making tools were not always shared unless there were enough for trade.

Problems arose whenever one band or tribe would enter into the routine territory of another (especially non-related peoples).  Competitive aspects would rise during the defending or attempted take-over of this area of the environment.

Answer 2

If your talking about band competing with another I would say not too often due to nomadic lifestyle of early hunter gatherers they probably didn't have to compete with one another for food.   Internally it would very cooperative otherwise it would be very risky or impossible to hunt many creatures they did at that time if they where trying to compete with one another instead of focusing on the task at hand.

Answer 3

Think about it... a group sees a berry bush, they all rush it in competition and the bush gets trampled...not good for anyone. You set up a system. Just preteens go looking for berries, upon seeing the bush, they inform the oldest. The oldest makes sure that each get an equal amount and then they mark the bush someway and note the time of year that it has produced. Someone that is good at finding a bush is given honors and gets the name, berry honored.

(very honored). lol

Answer 4

Possibly the same as we have today ie a fine balance of both competition AND co-operation dependant on the situation. I wonder if we are really that different to our ancient ancestors?