What are/is Subsistence Cultures?

Question

This is a term I must identify and I cannot find anywhere!

thanks!

Answer 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Soc...

hope this helps.

basically a subsistence culture is one that doesn't produce excess food and store it for the future.

Answer 2

Regarding the first two replies, somehow 'subsistence culture', for me, conjours up images of hungry and thirsty tribes in Africa and perhaps in the Arab world but, in my mind, would not apply to tribes in the South American jungles or rain forests elsewhere although they don't store food for the future.

Am I correct or is the definition immutable?

Answer 3

Hunter/Gatherer lifestyles are genrally thought of as subsistence level cultures, as their nomadic practices does not allow them to store excess food, so they take what they need from an environment, and move on, once the environment becomes fouled!

This is how our ancestors lived for the past 200,000 years or so, up until the advent of farming, appx. 10,000 years ago!

Subsistence-level nomads generally lived in tribes of 30-200!