Not just men, women hunters too: New research

This database contained information on at least 1,400 human societies, of which researchers chose to investigate 391, and data were compiled from literature on 63 different foraging societies

New Delhi: The belief that men have been hunters and women have been gatherers in foraging societies is likely an inaccurate representation, a study published this week has contended after finding that in 79% of various groups they studied, they found evidence of women being hunters too.

Sethlobogabotshelo Phuduhudu (left) talks to her husband Letshwao Nogayame in front of their home in Kaudwane village, about 200km from Gaborone, Botswana, on December 12, 2006. Nagayame and some 1,000 other Bushmen were one of the world's last surviving hunter-gatherers who foraged for wild plants for 20,000 years (Pic for representational purpose only). (REUTERS)

The study, by researchers from Seattle Pacific University in the US and published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on June 28, 2023, said it found mounting archaeological evidence from across human history and prehistory to challenge that notice.

For instance, women in many societies have been found buried alongside big-game hunting tools.

For the study, researchers went through ethnographic reports of foraging societies found in the Database of Places, Languages, Culture and Environment (D-PLACE).

“The current project gleans data from across the ethnographic literature to investigate the prevalence of women hunting in foraging societies in more recent times. Evidence from the past one hundred years supports archaeological finds from the Holocene that women from a broad range of cultures intentionally hunt for subsistence. These results aim to shift the male-hunter female-gatherer paradigm to account for the significant role females have in hunting, thus dramatically shifting stereotypes of labour, as well as mobility,” added the paper.

This database contained information on at least 1,400 human societies, of which researchers chose to investigate 391, and data were compiled from literature on 63 different foraging societies.

The paper quotes a 2017 discovery of a well-known burial in Sweden that revealed an individual alongside weapons and equipment associated with high-ranking Viking warriors.

The analysis also claimed that women are actively involved in teaching hunting practices and that they often employ a greater variety of weapon choice and hunting strategies than men.

The 63 foraging societies quoted in the paper include 19 from North America, six from South America, 12 from Africa, 15 from Australia, five from Asia and six from the Oceanic region. Of the 63 societies analysed, 50 (79%) of the groups had documentation on women hunting.