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The Significance of Food Storage Among Hunter CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Vol. 23, No. 5, October 1982 ? 1982by The Wenner-GrenFoundation for Anthropological Research, all rightsreserved 0011-3204/82/2305-0001$01.85 The Significanceof Food Storage among Hunter-Gatherers:Residence Patterns, Population Densities,and Social Inequalities by Alain Testart HUNTING-AND-GATHERING SOCIETIES have oftenbeen viewed point of view, such a dichotomyraises a problem:how to ac- as forminga singlecategory about whichit is easy to generalize: count for the fact that, with the same basic food-gathering it willbe sufficienthere to recallthe concept of the "band level economy,two verydifferent levels of social complexitycan be of integration"of Steward (1955) and Service (1966) or the attained.Grosse (p. 27) soughta solutionto thisproblem with rathertentative notion of "nomadicstyle" of Lee and DeVore referenceto ecology:according to his pioneeringstudy, "upper (1968). Such generalapproaches can be upheldonly if a number hunters"were able to raisetheir cultural level above thatof the of food-gatheringsocieties are treatedas exceptionsand dis- othersbecause of a richerand morestable production"owing carded. NorthwestCoast societiesare oftenconsidered to be mainly to advantageous natural conditions" (translation such exceptions.As Suttles (1968:56) puts it, "the Northwest mine).' Neoevolutionistsor culturalecologists years later re- Coast peoplesseem to have attainedthe highest known levels of sortedto thesame typeof explanation (e.g., Steward1955:175; cultural complexityachieved on a food-gatheringbase and Service 1962:47; 1966:3; Goldschmidt1959:190). among the highestknown levels of population density.The I intendto presenthere a differentsolution: I willargue that NorthwestCoast refutesmany seeminglyeasy generalizations the reason there are two differentkinds of food-gathering about people without horticultureor herds." Californiais societiesis that thereare two radicallydistinct types of econ- anothercase in point: "The abundance of plant and animal omy.The first,which is foundamong nomadic hunter-gatherers resourcesand the developmentof storagetechniques and other such as the Bushmenand the AustralianAborigines, is based trulyskilled applicationsof human ingenuityallowed these on theimmediate use offood resources. This economyis flexible peopleto developbeyond the normal parameters of hunting and and relieson multiplealternative strategies. The second,which gathering,particularly in the sociological,philosophical, and is foundamong more sedentary foragers such as the Northwest religiousrealms" (Bean and Lawton 1973:36; for similarre- Coast and CaliforniaIndians, is based on large-scaleseasonal markson CaliforniaIndians, see also King 1972,Kunkel 1974, food storage.In the firstpart of this paper, I shall point out Gould 1975,and others).These factshave been wellknown for the conditionsunderlying the latter type of economy and a long time. As early as the end of the last century,Grosse delineateits consequencesfor the societyas a whole. In the (1896) made a distinctionbetween two kinds of hunters:the second part, I shall use the cross-culturalcodes publishedby "lower" and the "upper." He classifiedthe NorthwestCoast Murdockand othersto show howa distinctionbetween storing and CaliforniaIndians among the latter. From a materialist and nonstoringtypes of economiesmay account for the ob- serveddifferences among hunting-and-gathering societies. ALAIN TESTART is a Research Associate of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (mailing address: Maison des THE STORING HUNTER-GATHERER ECONOMY Sciences de l'Homme, 54 boulevard Raspail, 75270 Paris Cedex 06, France). Born in 1945,he was educated at the Ecole Nationale A DEFINITION Superieuredes Mines de Paris (dipl6me d'ingenieur,1968) and the Universitede Paris VII (doctoratde 3amecycle en ethnologie, Wheresome naturalfood resources are bountifulbut seasonal, 1975). His research interestsare the social organizationof the theycan be gathereden masse whileavailable and storedon a AustralianAborigines and the anthropologyof hunter-gatherers. largescale once transformedthrough appropriate food preser- His publicationsinclude Des classificationsdualistes en Australie: Essai sur l'evolutionde l'organisationsociale (Paris and Lille: vation techniques,thus becomingthe staple food year-round. Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme and Lille III This possibilitylies at the intersectionof fourconditions, two 1978), "Bandes et clans en Australie" (Journalde la Socigtedes ecological (abundance and seasonalityof resources)and two Oceanistes 61:147-59), "Some Puzzling Dualistic Classifica- technical(efficient food-getting and food-storagetechniques). tions in New South Wales" (Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde136:64-89), "Pour une typologie des chasseurs- The presenceof these fourconditions determines an economy cueilleurs" (Anthropologieet Societs 5[2]:177-221), and Les chasseurs-cueilleurset la revolutionneolithique (in press). 1 "vor Allem dank einer besonderen Gunst der natiirlichen The presentpaper was submittedin finalform 11 xii 81. Bedingungen." Vol. 23 - No. 5 * October1982 523 This content downloaded from 193.54.110.35 on Sat, 11 Jan 2014 17:10:33 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions in whichstorage provides the bulk of foodduring the season of are highlyseasonal, sedentarism and large-scalestorage imply scarcity.This economyhas twomain characteristics. each other:storage brings forth sedentarism, and sedentarism The firstis a conspicuousseasonal variationin the intensity presupposesstorage. Which historicallyprecedes the other offood-getting activities. During the season of plenty, when the is a chicken-and-eggquestion. naturalenvironment abounds in foodresources, these have to The usual residenceof hunter-gathererspracticing storage is be gatheredin sufficientlylarge quantitiesnot only to satisfy a villageor a permanentcamp builtaround food reserves from theimmediate nutritional needs of the community,but also to whichseasonal expeditionsrequiring a certainmobility, such be storedin orderto cope withthe nextseason of scarcity:this as hunting,are launched. What characterizesthis residence is the time when productiveactivities, such as food-getting, patternis not so much the total absence of mobility,but, be it hunting,fishing, or gathering,and food preparationfor first,a greatersedentarism than in the case of nonstoring preservation,are at theirpeak. During the season of scarcity, hunter-gatherers,which is frequentlyreflected in the natureof thebulk of subsistenceis ensuredby thestored food already at dwellings,and secondly,permanence of residenceduring the hand: food productionis then at its lowest. The season of season of scarcity. scarcityis thusa timeof leisure,of enjoymentand festivities; It is importantto stress that we are concernedhere only it is also the timewhen the biggestand mostimportant rituals withintensive storage of basic fooditems. Other kinds of storage are usuallyperformed. This specificseasonal alternation in the may be practicedby huntersand gatherers-forinstance, the intensityof workis a distinctivefeature of the storingecon- storageof nonfooditems such as raw materials,completed or omy. In the economyin which food storageplays an unim- partlycompleted products, and so on, or of fooditems, subsid- portantrole, food productionis a day-to-daypreoccupation iaryor basic, thatare limitedin quantity.Limited food storage correspondingto physiologicalneeds. The intensityof this does not entaila sedentaryway of life,since the bulk of subsis- activitymay vary slightlyfrom one season to another,but tenceis stillensured by periodicshifts. In addition,such storage thereis no reasonto thinkthat therewill be a decreasein the is notincompatible with nomadism, either because it consistsof intensityof workduring the season in whichfood resources are small quantitiesof preservedfoods carried by the membersof scarcerand harderto get. thegroup or because it constitutesa stockleft behind as a kind The secondcharacteristic of the storingeconomy is its rela- of insurance against misfortuneto which the community tive rigidity.The generalflexibility of the economybased on returnsas a last resort. the immediateconsumption of foodarises fromthe factthat it The importanceof storageis widelyacknowledged by pre- relieson a multiplicityof alternative strategies for the exploita- historians(Flannery 1969:78; 1973:280-81; Reed 1977a: 550; tion of the environment.In the storingeconomy, planning 1977b:900, 942-43; Redman 1977:528, 537; Hassan 1977:595) playsa crucialrole. Central to theeconomic cycle is theseasonal firstas a preadaptivefeature leading to the inventionof agri- establishmentof food stores; an abundant harvest and the culturein theNear East and secondas a practicetied to seden- adequate handlingof the product for preservationare both tarismin the case of prehistoricfood-gathering groups such as essential for the survival of the communityuntil the next the Natufians.Reed (1969:367, n. 21) indicatesthat village harvest.If theproducts deteriorate over timeor ifwinter lasts lifeimplies the existenceof an establishedfood resource which too long,famine threatens the community. can be gatheredin quantityand storedin special places: "The These two characteristicssuffice to show how the storing firstsimple villages may have grown around such storage economydiffers from the generalmodel which has been attrib- places." Flannery (1972:28) suggests "that the origin of uted to hunter-gatherers.For a societywith such an economy,
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