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Who were they? - In short, they were the original humans. When we first came onto the scene, we went around in groups and lived completely off the land. We did not settle in one place, but instead constantly moved around.

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How do we know about them? -

Archaeologists have found remnants of tools and settlements that have told us about their lifestyle. Some hunter-gatherer communities still exist today, but things are obviously a bit different.

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Hallmarks - You can tell a hunter-gatherer tribe from other types of civilizations because they used fire to cook things, used basic kinds of tools, and even preserved food so they could eat it in the future.

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What kind of humans? - The hunter-gatherer lifestyle was adopted by many hominids. Archaeologists are sure that homo erectus, homo heidelbegensis, Neanderthals, and early homo sapiens lived as hunter-gatherers.

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When? - They have found evidence that dates back to two million years ago! The evidence was found in Africa. They assume that the first hunter-gatherer tribes came from Africa until they evolved to walk long distances.

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Where? - Hunter-gatherers moved where the food was. This means that if there were predators or difficult natural circumstances, they would move to a new location.

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Nature - The fact that they moved so much meant that nature always had time to regrow. There are some that think humans should return to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle for this reason and more. However, this would be impossible with our current population.

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Homes - Unlike us with our present-day creature comforts, hunter-gatherers would sleep wherever it was safe. Usually, this was in rock formations, on strong ground, and in caves.

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What did they eat? - The first hunter-gatherers were primarily vegetarian. They did not yet have the tools to kill large animals, and so they scavenged from other predators.

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Population - Due to the nomadic nature of the groups, societies could not be too big, otherwise it was too difficult to mobilize everyone effectively. Academics say that the groups were usually up to 100 people.

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Society -

Life was pretty hard back then, so everyone had to pitch in. As a result, the societies were pretty equal when vegetarianism was the main diet.

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Society -

When hunting big game became the norm, there was a separation between the sexes because men would go and hunt while women would stay and watch the children.

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Society - Do not get the idea that it was all one big happy family. Sickness was rife and if you were too weak to keep up with the group, you were left behind.

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Diet change - As time went on, hominids’ knowledge of nature advanced. They were able to eat a wide variety of plants, fish, and meat.

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Final frontier of food - The biggest change came 500,000 years ago. Spearheads have been found that date back to then. The use of the spear meant that hominids could kill large game, which in turn would have changed their bodily growth and intelligence.

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The evolution - Some 100,000 years after the first hominids, homo erectus appeared. They notably had larger brains and a shorter digestive system. Both of these characteristics are said to have come from eating more meat.

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Fire - Interestingly, humans may have become more socially evolved because of fire. When they all sat around a fire, they had community time, which probably improved their social cohesion. Not to mention they could share delicious roasts.

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Homo erectus - Hominids could now walk for longer distances. Consequently, hunter-gatherer tribes moved further north into Europe and Asia, where the terrain was very different.

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Homo erectus appearance - When you imagine our distant relatives, imagine them a lot shorter, with smaller teeth, thinner skulls, and much less of a chin.

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Homo heidelbergensis -

Faced with the colder climates of Europe, hominids evolved to withstand different climates. The homo heidelbergensis continued to live hunter-gatherer style, except they hunted even more meat.

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The neanderthals -

Neanderthals cracked the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. As they evolved, the period of childhood extended because adults could afford to spend more time with them.

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Interaction - Much like how we view animal packs now, humans were the same. We did not like to mingle with other hunter-gatherer tribes. However, there is evidence that suggests that by 130,000 years ago tribes started meeting up.

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Spirituality - Up until the Neanderthals, there are no findings that indicate spiritual worship. However similar to the pagan tradition, it seems likely that once hominids developed abstract thought, they forged a spiritual relationship with animals and the dead.

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Spirituality - In Iraq, they have even found a buried Neanderthal skeleton. This confirms the conjecture that Neanderthals could comprehend an afterlife. They have also found ornamental wooden pieces that are presumed to be for some kind of god.

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Homo sapiens -

The early homo sapiens had life so sorted as hunter-gatherers that it became possible for them to stay in one place for longer due to efficient food storage and stronger shelters.

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The Neolithic Revolution - Eventually, homo sapiens created permanent dwellings around 12,000 years ago. The conditions were favorable for stationary farming, and they had domesticated animals that were later farmed.

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Disease - Moving from one lifestyle to the other had some negatives. Humans now had a much less varied diet because they were only eating their own produce. It was also necessary for them to work a lot more rather than just hunt every few days.

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Hunter-gatherers now - Even though there has been a dramatic decline in hunter-gathering populations due to deforestation and general human intervention in nature, some still exist.

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Hunter-gatherers now -

For example, the Hazda tribes in Tanzania still exist. They consist of around 1,300 members and rely primarily on bigcgame for food.

Sources: (History) 

See also: Sun worshippers: the history of the summer solstice

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