Hunting and Gathering

In Danish with summaries in English. Richly illustrated.
In 1956 an alert schoolboy salvaged the first object from the site lying 4-6 m below current sea level. Later on, the c. 8000 years-old Kongemose Culture habitation site was examined by archaeological divers and mapped seismically. The book represents the first monographic presentation of a Stone Age settlement located on the seabed in Denmark. It provides a broad overview of the topography and internal organization of the site and presents a rich assemblage of artifacts in flint, bone and antler. Additionally faunal and floral materials are presented along with the skeletal remains of at least four humans.

The Munda people have unique ethnic identity as one of the largest tribes in Indian subcontinent. They have long history and distinctive language as well as religious and cultural identity. In Bangladesh, they are currently living in different geographical location over the country. Historically, hunting and gathering was the ancestral and inherited practice for everyday subsistence in Mundas. Although the ancestral way of living has been destroyed in most parts of the region through different political changes and technological advancements, there are still some Mundas who are found practicing their lives attached with nature. This study is attempted to construct a data source on hunting-gathering practices of Munda tribe as well as to focus on techniques and methods in which they fulfill their basic subsistence maintaining a very close connection with Mother Nature. Aiming this, ethnographic field works have been performed on Munda tribe of Palkichara village in north-eastern Bangladesh. Exploratory case studies, both participatory and non-participatory observations; individual, household and group interviews have been carried out for the primary data sources on subsistence pattern as well as socio-cultural structures. With the support of rich ethnographic and empirical data, this study shows that the Munda people of Palkichara village are still unique with their ancestral way of living despite of being socio-economically effected by various facts. It also illustrates that hunting and gathering are in the centre of their every aspect of life. Moreover, this research suggests that, being completely attached with nature and almost untouched by rest of the world, Mundas in Palkichara may demonstrate the subsistence strategies of prehistoric hunter gatherers.

L'approche carpologique du Néolithique moyen II à Clairvaux est fondée sur un total de 32 prélèvements de sédiments an-thropiques, dans trois villages datés de 3900-3700 av. J.-C. : Clairvaux XIV (13 échantillons), Clairvaux VII (2 échantillons) et Clairvaux/La Motte-aux-Magnins niveau V (17 échantillons). L'évolution chronologique des assemblages de taxons est étudiée à CL XIV, puis des comparaisons sont proposées entre les trois villages plus ou moins contemporains, pour chercher d'éventuelles spécificités ; enfin est proposée une image générale des assemblages de taxons à Clairvaux pendant le Néolithique moyen, en calculant les valeurs moyen-nes obtenues sur les 32 échantillons analysés. Le groupe de végétation des milieux humides (dont les aquatiques) permet de préciser l'ambiance environnementale dans laquelle ont été bâtis les villages : la plateforme littorale inondable, près du bas-marais, pour CL XIV et CL VII, tandis que les constructions ont été implantées sur une île à CL MM V. Le groupe des plantes prairiales, probablement limité aux versants qui dominent le lac, est faiblement représenté et pourrait avoir été exploité pour des litières destinées à stabi-liser le sol humide et mou dans les villages. Le groupe des plantes forestières est largement dominé par les baies et les fruits : fraises, pommes sauvages et mûres en majorité, framboises, sureaux, viornes, noisettes, prunelles, aubépine, cynorrhodons et coqueret à titre plus anecdotique. L'ail des ours, les noisettes et les glands sont sans conteste sous-représentés dans le spectre des produits de la collecte. Le stockage en grande quantité des cotylédons de glands épluchés doit être souligné. La culture du lin et du pavot a permis de tirer parti des graines pour obtenir des huiles végétales. Parmi les céréales, l'amidonnier Triticum dicoccum domine largement, suivi par le froment, Triticum/aestivum/durum/turgidum ; puis par l'orge, Hordeum vulgare ; au contraire, l'engrain, Triticum monococcum, est à peine attesté. Ce type d'assemblage varie en chronologie et d'un village à l'autre. Mais, quoi qu'il en soit, il semble très différent des assemblages de céréales du Pfyn et du Cortaillod suisses, où dominent l'orge et le froment, avec un rôle toujours important donné à l'engrain. L'idée d'un assemblage particu-lier de céréales dans le Jura français peut alors être défendu.
Abstract : The carpological approach to the Middle Neolithic II at Clairvaux is based on 32 sediment samples from anthropic levels in the three villages dated between 3900 and 3700 BC : Clairvaux XIV (13 samples), Clairvaux VII (2 samples) and Clairvaux/La Motte-aux-Magnins level V (17 samples). The chronological evolution of the assemblage of species is studied for CL XIV, and comparisons are then proposed between the three more or less contemporaneous villages, to draw out any eventual specificities; finally, a general overview is proposed for the taphonomic make-up at Clairvaux during the Middle Neolithic, based on average values from the 32 samples studied. he group representing the vegetation of wetlands (including aquatic plants) permits us to describe the environment in which the villages were built : the shelf subject to flooding, close to the marshes, for CL XIV and CL VII, whilst the houses of CL MM V were set on an island. The group of open land plants, probably limited to the slopes overlooking the lake, is poorly represented and could have been used as bedding to stabilise the wet and squelchy land surface in the villages, to prevent sinking in.The group of forest plants is largely dominated by berries and fruits: mostly strawberries, wild apples and blackberries, with some raspberries, elder berries, viburnum, hazel, sloes, hawthorn, rosehip and winter cherry. Wild garlic, hazel nuts and acorns are clearly underrepresented in the range of gathered plants. The storage of large quantities of peeled acorn kernels needs to be stressed. The cultivation of

Through visual analysis presented in 15 tables the authors looked at the complexity of gathering as practice that not only plays a role in subsistence, but also creates meaning and frames an engagement with the environment. Gathering is studied as consisting of several processes: the searching; cleaning and sorting things, to lay out and to dry things; and transportation, consumption and packing. Objects that are gathered are shown to play important roles of mediums for people and their environment. Cases of berries, firewood, jade stones and ice are presented as illustrations of this argument. In the final part of the article gathering is studied as a metaphysical phenomenon: a process of switching from disorder to order and back. Gathering poses many metaphysical questions in a practical form, and the authors propose to look at how people deal with these questions. How does the world change for those who gather things? How do they experience this transformation? Does the human attempt to collect things become an attempt to order the chaotic environment, classify it, and contain chaos into small volumes of their bags and buckets? This study is based on social anthropological fieldwork conducted among Evenki people of East Buryatia. In this article we pursue two goals. On the one hand we look at how gathering as a practice creates a frame for the relationship between humans and their environment. We look at a particular case of Evenki people from East Siberia. On the other hand we propose a reintroduction of a forgotten methodological approach, a photographic analysis in which photos made by researchers from the field become sources of data to be analyzed and interpreted. Originally this method was proposed by Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead, but never became wide spread. We argue that advances in contemporary study of materiality and new semiotic approaches in social anthropology provide a basis for the reintroduction of this method on new premises.