What was a day in the life of early humans like? Wake up at dawn. Walk in search of water and food. Try not to get injured while hunting. Maybe just go fishing instead—that seems safer. Relax with family and friends to watch the sunset. Was life as a forager better than the life we know today?
Driving Question: How did the first humans live?
- Look out your window. Imagine all the homes, buildings, streets, and human-made structures have disappeared. Your environment was transformed back to its natural state. For me, in the middle of the Midwest, I’d be looking out at a vast sea of prairie grasslands with no trees in sight. Now imagine, where are you going to get your dinner? As the first humans began to settle down, they developed entirely new systems of acquiring food through collective learning. These new systems varied from community to community based on the environment, but typically involved walking in search of water and berries and hunting for animals. Our nomadic ancestors traveled across broad areas of land in small groups, carrying whatever they had, and living off the land.
Word of the Day: Foraging
- Definition: The act of searching for food and provisions.
- Until the dawn of agriculture, humans had to rely on hunting and gathering (foraging) to feed themselves. This required groups of people to remain relatively small in number and to move frequently. As humans developed increasingly sophisticated tools to hunt and prepare food, there were still limits to the amount of food they were able to find.
Lesson
- Go to Khan Academy and do the activity Hunter Gatherer Menu.
- In this activity, you’ll get a better understanding of how our foraging ancestors lived by thinking about the things they ate, and how they produced those foods. You’ll start by choosing a name and a location for an imaginary restaurant, along with a date to that reflects when people would have been foraging in the location where you live. Research what a typical forager might have hunted and gathered in your neighborhood!
Historian’s Journal Prompt
- How are you eating differently in this pandemic?
- As supermarkets and grocery stores struggle to keep the shelves stocked, we often aren’t able to find the things we usually eat. What are you substituting in your diet for your usual favorites? What’s available might vary based upon where you live. My friends in California keep telling me they can’t find flour anywhere, but we have plenty here in Iowa! I can’t seem to find any sweet potatoes or rice! Think about the changes you’re making and why there might be a shortage of certain foods in the region where you live.
