Hunter-Gatherers as Optimal Foragers

Abstract

Optimal foraging theory is a logical extension of the materialist perspective described in previous chapters, and viewed by some as an alternative to middle-range theory that is both more solidly grounded in formal theory and more directly related to the basic materialist concerns of subsistence and settlement that have traditionally dominated anthropological treatments of hunter-gatherers. We provide verbal descriptions, theoretical justifications, and graphical and mathematical representations of a variety of classic and more recently developed models derived from microeconomics and ethology.