1.

Hunting and gathering have remained the most ancient of human subsistence
patterns. They remained the subsistence pattern of some societies even in the 20 th
century. Foraging societies are generally found to be passively dependent on what
the society contains. They do not plant crops and keep only dogs as pets. Hunting
and gathering play an important role from various points of view in a foraging
society apart from nutrition.
http://www.cheshnotes.com/2016/07/hunting-and-gathering-in-foraging-societies/
In case of nutrition hunting and gathering are believed to play an equally
important role in the foraging societies. However, hunting has been done generally
by men in groups. The foragers have been hunting to meet their caloric needs and
as such hunting has relatively higher importance because of the meat being high in
protein. Moreover, people in the foraging societies used to eagerly look for large
hunts and whenever one was killed it was distributed among all the camp
members.
http://www.cheshnotes.com/2016/07/hunting-and-gathering-in-foraging-societies/
However, men generally focussed on getting large hunts and one was not
available always. As such gathering was another important means to get food.
With time hunting large animals became unreliable and in some societies the diet
came from nonmeat sources like nuts and roots mainly. In such a case gathering
was the main source of food and gathering took precedence over hunting. Men
used to look for large hunt but most of the diet used to come from vegetable
sources. (Palomar, n.d.)
Apart from nutrition hunting and gathering were also important from the point
of view of division of labor. Hunting was the task of men and women were
gatherers mainly. As the dependency of the foraging societies on vegetable food
increased the womens responsibility also increased as they had to collect and
provide for the majority of the calories being consumed. In such a case, hunting

and gathering have also been important from the point of view of defining gender
roles. Men generally have little to do with food and child keeping other than
hunting occasionally.
2. The Hutterites had come to North America in the 1870s from Eastern Europe
mainly to escape religious persecution. They are also the oldest continuous
communal religious order in United States. They had originally settled in South
Dakota in 1874 and their colonies are mainly in rural areas and are self-sustaining.
They grow and raise enough to feed a colony of 60 to 10 residents. Every
Hutterite colony has a corporate like structure with the minister or the Prediger as
its Chief Executive. The minister takes the day to day decisions with support from
advisory board. His duties also include managing the church affairs, marriages,
funerals and managing the colony. The advisory board consists of members
elected for life that include the minister, the colony manager, the farm manager
and two to three witness brothers. These people together make all the important
day to day decisions. As a whole this group is known as Zullbreider. The corporate
like structure of the Hutterite colonies has also resulted in high efficiency in terms
of farming and business operations. (NDSU, n.d.)
In their organizational structure, the Hutterite colonies resemble the chiefdoms
which are classless and have one or more permanent full time leaders. The
minister and the advisory council members are permanent full time members. As
in some chiefdoms, the Hutterite colonies also have an advisory council to assist
the chief or the minister at making important decisions. The functions of the chief
in a Hutterite colony is also similar to that of the chief in chiefdoms which is to
oversee important matters and make key decisions apart from overseeing
economic affairs and the distribution of production. Thus, it can be seen that the

Hutterite colonies are the closest to the chiefdoms in

their organizational

structure.
3. There have emerged several contradictory theories of human cognitive evolution
in attempts to model how and when these abilities emerged. Various kinds of
evidences have been examined in order to estimate the time of origin of human
language which includes archaeological evidence, biological or paleoanthropological evidence and even cultural evidence. Ruhlen used a package of
archaeological, paleoanthropological and genetic evidence for estimating the date
of origin of language diversification. He proposed that this process could have
started 40 to 50,000 years ago. But there also appeared many contradictory
theories against his.
Anthropologists have also highlighted tracheal changes as evidence of the origin
of human language. Newly uncovered genetic, fossil and archaeological evidences
suggest that our ancestors had developed the biological basis for at least a
primitive form of speech some half a million years ago. It happened even before
the split in human lineage between the Homosapiens and the Neanderthals.
Anthropologists have also linked the origin of speech and the uniqueness of the
human ability to speak to genetic mutation. (Derrico, n.d.)
However, apart from the biological and archaeological evidences, cultural
evidences have also been examined to estimate the origins of language and
speech. Cultural anthropologists have suggested a cultural model of the origin of
language. They have argued that language is a cultural creation which developed
supported by the human biological advantages. Thus, we see that anthropologists
have linked a variety of evidences to the development of speech among humans.
While some have cited it as a biological evolutionary phenomenon others have
linked it with cultural evolution.

4. Belief in supernatural beings is a universal phenomenon. This belief is widespread

across as well as within the cultures. A large number of people still believe in
angels and demons. (Shtulman, 2008) The types and numbers of such beings
differ across cultures However, the aspect of culture to which this number is
mainly linked is spirituality or religion. But apart from religion, it is also linked
with art and literature. A major part of any culture that reflects its belief in the
supernatural is its art. Art like paintings, sculptures and other forms of art even
dance and dram are linked to the existence of the supernatural beings. Greek and
Egyptian cultures are good examples where we see a number of these supernatural
beings finding face and figure in the cultures art.
Similarly, the literature of these cultures and especially religious scriptures are
most importantly related to the number of such supernatural beings. It is mostly
the religious scriptures where these supernatural beings whether Angels or demons
originate from. Most religions and cultures have their own scriptures which depict
the origins of these supernatural beings as well as their importance to that culture.
Whether it is the Greek heroes with supernatural powers or the Egyptian Gods and
Goddesses, their origins lie in the religious scriptures of their culture.
Thus, we see that the supernatural beings from every culture are the best
represented in a linked with its religion. From there they have found their way to
peoples beliefs and into the art of that culture. It is basically from religion that
these supernatural beings have emanated and then found their way into popular art
and tales. It is mythology mainly which reflects the number as well as the place of
supernatural beings in a particular culture.
References:
Color Them Plain but Successful: Growing Hutterite Colonies Find Successful
and Sizable Niches in District Economy (n.d.). In NDSU. Retrieved July 25,

2014,

from

http://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/history_culture/history/plain_but_successful.html
Foraging (n.d.). In Palomar College. Retrieved July 25, 2014, from
http://anthro.palomar.edu/subsistence/sub_2.htm
Shtulman, A. (2008). Variation in the Anthropomorphization of Supernatural
Beings and Its Implications for Cognitive Theories of Religion. In Occidental
College.

Retrieved

July

25,

2014,

from

http://faculty.oxy.edu/shtulman/documents/2008b.pdf
D'errico, F. (2003). Archaeological Evidence for the Emergence of Language,
Symbolism, and MusicAn Alternative Multidisciplinary Perspective. In Journal
of

World

Prehistory.

Retrieved

July

25,

2014,

from

http://www.eva.mpg.de/evolution/staff/soressi/pdf/Derrico-and-al2003_JWP.pdf