Contents Foreword Sherwood L. Washburn xv Note on Orthography xix Introduction Richard B. Lee 3 I Ecology and Social Change 1 The Dobe-/Du/da Environment: John E. Yellen and 27 Background to a Hunting and Richard B. Lee Gathering Way of Life 2 Settlement Patterns of the !Kung: John E. Yellen 47 An Archaeological Perspective 3 !Kung Spatial Organization: Richard B. Lee 73 AnEco logical and Historical Perspective 4 Subsistence Ecology of Central Jiro Tanaka 98 Kalahari San 5 From Hunters to Squatters: Mathias G. Guenther 120 Social and Cultural Change among the Farm San of Ghanzi, Botswana Further Studies 134 II Population and Health 6 The Population of the Dobe Area !Kung Nancy Howell 137 7 Regional Variation in ! Kung Henry Harpending 152 Populations 8 Medical Research among the !Kung A. Stewart Truswell and 166 John D. L. Hansen Further Studies 195 III Childhood 9 Social and Economic Constraints on Patricia Draper 199 Child Life among the !Kung 10 Maternal Care, Infant Behavior and Melvin J. Konner 218 Development among the !Kung 11 A !Kung Woman's Memories of Marjorie Shostak 246 Childhood Further Studies 278 CONTENTS IV Behavior and Belief 12 Education for Transcendence: Richard Katz 281 !Kia-Healing with the Kalahari IKung 13 Aspects of !Kung Folklore Megan Biesele 302 14 IKung Knowledge of Animal Behavior Nicholas Blurton Jones 325 (or: The Proper Study of Mankind Is and Melvin J. Konner Animals) 15 Sharing, Talking, and Giving: Lorna Marshall 349 Relief of Social Tensions among the IKung Further Studies 372 Contributors 375 Bibliography 377 Notes 395 Index 403 Maps Location of major San field work sites to 1976 11 1.1. The Dobe-/Du/da Area 29 2.1. Land-use division between Dobe and surrounding groups 55 2.2. Location of camp occupied by Dobe group 58 2.3. Routes of Dobe group during two trips from Dobe 59 3.1. Distribution of water sources in the/Xai/xai-/Gam Area 83 3.2. A reconstruction of the distribution of land-holding groups, 85 1920-1930 3.3. Patterns of convergence of land-holding groups during the dry 87 season and in drought years, 1920-1930 3.4. Current land-use patterns of active land-holding groups, 1963-1969 93 4.1. Sketch map of =£Kade Area 99 7.1. Location of study areas 154 Figures 1.1. Rainfall at Dobe for three years 32 2.1. The 1968 Dobe Camp 63 2.2. The 1969 Dobe Camp 64 2.3. A camp in the T^Tum^toa Grove 68 3.1. Variations in annual rainfall at Maun, Botswana, July 1922 to 80 June 1968 4.1. Seasonal changes in water resources 105 4.2. Seasonal changes in main food resources 108 Contents .7.1. Parental distance distribution 161 7.2. Genetic distance map 163 7.3. Genetic distances predicted from migration 164 8.1. Weights and heights of San boys and girls 176 8.2. Subscapular skinfolds of San boys and girls in October 1967 179 (dry season) and April-May 1968 (wet season) 10.1. Percentage of infants and children nursing at time of contact 223 10.2. Amount of passive physical contact with mother 224 10.3. Amount of passive physical contact with anyone 226 10.4. Mean number of children appearing in 15-minute observations 227 of infants 10.5. Attainment of independent sitting in !Kung infants 229 10.6. Attainment of independent rising from lying to standing in 230 !Kung infants 10.7. Attainment of highest phase of independent walking in IKung 231 infants 10.8. Attainment of walking with hands held in !Kung infants 232 10.9. Attainment of first phase of independent walking in IKung 233 infants 10.10. Prehension scale, Einstein scales of sensorimotor development 235 Tables San language families 8 1.1. Heat and cold stress in the Dobe Area 31 1.2. Composition of some major San wild foods 40 2.1. Campsites occupied by Dobe Camp: January 27, 1968 to 57 July 11, 1968 2.2. Numbers of occupants of Dobe dry-season camps: 1964, 1968, 60 1969 2.3. Participants in trips from Dobe, 1968 62 2.4. Game and major vegetable foods from camps in three areas 66 3.1. Dimensions along which social and spatial boundaries may vary 74 in hunter-gatherer groups 3.2. Patrilineal vs matrilineal inheritance of locality 78 3.3. Drought frequencies and intensities at Maun, Botswana, over a 81 46-year period 3.4. Local variations in rainfall among five localities in the Ghanzi 82 District 3.5. Reconstructed groups of the /Xai/xai and /Gam Areas, circa 88 1920 to 1930 4.1. Available dates of standing water 103 4.2. Nutrient composition of the two Bauhinia beans 110 4.3. Estimated weights of food taken daily by the =£Kade San 111 4.4. Number of game animals caught by the #Kade San from 111 September 1967 to March 1968 CONTENTS 4. A. Various species of plants eaten by the =£Kade San 117 4.B. Various animal species utilized as food by the ^Kade San 119 6.1. Inventory of resident population only, 1963 to 1969 140 6.2. Annual variations in fertility, 1963 to 1968 141 xU 6.3. Annual variations in mortality, 1963 to 1968 142 6.4. Retrospective fertility: number of live births by current age 146 of mother 6.5. Retrospective estimates of mortality: deaths of the children 149 born to interviewed women 6.6. Comparison of percentage of parents surviving to women by age 150 7.1. Reproductive performance of !Kung women 157 7.2. Sibship data 158 8.1. Mean heights in cm (and number of subjects) 172 8.2. Mean weight/height ratios 173 8.3. Skinfold thickness in adults 174 8.4. San women's dressmaker measurements 175 8.5. Children's weights, height, and head circumference 177 8.6. Mean biochemical concentrations in adult sera 180 8.7. 24-hour urines from San adults at Dobe 181 8.8. Mean blood pressure of San in different age groups 182 8.9. Mean percentage of fatty acids in fasting serum triglycerides 185 8.10. Changes in adult San October 1967 to April/May 1%8 189 8.11. Serum-free amino acids (mg per 100 ml) 192 9.1. /Du/da Area: band size, age and sex composition 203 9.2. Average number of minutes per hour in which the subject child 208 was completely unsupervised 9.3. Ages and numbers of hours observed of/Du/da children 208 9.4. Average number of minutes per hour in which children have one 209 or more adults in their immediate presence 9.5. Average number of minutes per hour in which/Du/da children 213 were observed doing a task 9.6. Average number of child-caring acts by a subject child per hour 214 of observation 10.1. Prehension scale items administered 236 Illustrations Hunter testing a hollow tree for water (Richard Lee/Anthro-Photo) 1 R. Lee examining the debris of an old campfire (Irven DeVore/Anthro- 6 Photo) Women with infants digging roots (Marjorie Shostak/Anthro-Photo) 25 The mongongo forests north of Dobe and the border road in 1964 27 (Irven DeVorelAnthro-Photo) San herding Herero donkeys at /Xai/xai (Richard Katz/Anthro-Photo) 35 Plane-table survey of San rainy season camp (Irven DeVorelAnthro-Photo) 47 Contents Two families leaving camp to hunt and gather, the men with springhare 51 poles (Irven DeVore/Anthro-Photo) Winter camp at a permanent waterhole (Melvin Konner/Anthro-Photo) 73 Summer camp near the mongongo forests north of Dobe (Irven DeVore/ 79 Anthro-Photo) xiii /Gwi San in the Central Kalahari eating Bauhinia macrantha beans 98 (Irven DeVore/Anthro-Photo) Cattle post San near the Ghanzi District studying a Land Rover motor 120 (Richard Lee/Anthro-Photo) A vigorous /Xai/xai man of seventy (Irven DeVore/Anthro-Photo) 135 A Dobe woman eight months pregnant with her husband, daughter, and 137 a visiting uncle on left (Irven DeVore/Anthro-Photo) /Du/da people moving south along the fenced border road, 1969 152 (Richard Lee/Anthro-Photo) San mother on the move with her baby and her possessions (Marjorie 166 Shostak/Anthro-Photo) Three generations roasting, cracking, and eating nuts (Richard Lee/ 169 Anthro-Photo) Mother nursing older child (Melvin Konner/Anthro-Photo) 197 Two children sharing water from a hollow tree (Irven DeVore/Anthro- 199 Photo) Mother with her four children cracking nuts (Irven DeVore/Anthro-Photo) 204 A man laughing with an infant (Stan Washburn/Anthro-Photo) 218 Newborn, older sister and mother (Melvin Konner/Anthro-Photo) 221 Girls dancing the springhare dance (Richard Lee/Anthro-Photo) 246 Playing the Antbear game. "It" burrows under the legs (Richard Lee/ 261 Anthro-Photo) Man in trance (Marjorie Shostak/Anthro-Photo) 279 San healer laying hands on a pregnant Herero woman (Richard Katz/ 281 Anthro-Photo) San healing dance at dawn (Richard Katz/Anthro-Photo) 285 Playing the musical bow (Richard Lee/Anthro-Photo) 302 Story-telling at a meat distribution (Richard Lee/Anthro-Photo) 305 Dobe man bringing home a porcupine (Irven DeVore/Anthro-Photo) 325 Telling the hunt (Loma Marshall) 327 People sitting close together (Loma Marshall) 349 .