hunting and gathering societies
Societies that rely primarily or exclusively on hunting wild animals, fishing, and gathering wild fruits, berries, nuts, and vegetables to support their diet. Until humans began to domesticate plants and animals about ten thousand years ago, all human societies were hunter-gatherers. Today, only a tiny fraction of the world's populations support themselves in this manner, and they survive only in isolated, inhospitable areas, such as deserts, the frozen tundra, and dense rain forests. Given the close relationship between hunter-gatherers and their natural environment, hunting and gathering tribes such as the Bushmen and the Pygmies may provide valuable information for anthropologists seeking to understand the develop.

HUNTING AND GATHERING SOCIETIES 100,000 BC - 8000 BC
The best evidence currently available indicates that genetically modern humans evolved sometimes about 100,000 years ago.� These 1st modern humans were more intelligent and probably better able to communicate among themselves than were their hominid forebears, although they inherited a number of valuable customs and technologies from them.� Although the rate of innovation was slow, hominids accumulated a number of useful tools and practices in the nearly 5 million yeas that had elapsed between the time our ancestors diverged from the ancestors of the modern great apes and modern humans.� Probably the most important was the domestication of fire.
Fire fostered a technological and social revolution.� It set humans apart from all other animals, giving them some control over the cycle of day and night and more freedom of movement (102).� Most importantly, fire strengthened the network of interrelationships within societies (103).

The emergence of genetically modern humans marks a critical juncture in our species evolutionary history.� For at this point, cultural