What hunter-gatherers can tell us about human social networks

Hunter-gatherers have a three-tiered social network to increase the chance the whole community has enough to eat, according to new UCL research which looked at two contemporary hunter-gatherer groups. Published today in Current Biology , the researchers studied the Agta, of northern Luzon in the Philippines, and the Mbendjele who live in the north of the Republic of Congo. For the Agta, the primary source of protein is fish, supplemented by inter-tidal foraging, hunting, honey collecting, and gathering wild foods. The Mbendjele source most of their meat from forest-hunting and subsidise their protein intake by collecting honey, gathering wild foods and occasionally fishing. 'At times, foragers may procure more than enough food to feed themselves while at others they may go days or weeks without producing anything,' said first author Mark Dyble (UCL Anthropology). 'Because of this, the sharing of food is vital for the survival of hunter-gatherer communities. It is likely this is as true for hunter-gatherers in the past as it is for hunter-gatherer communities today.' Last author Dr Andrea Migliano, (UCL Anthropology) and PI of the Hunter-Gatherers Resilience Project funded by the Leverhulme Trust, explains how a multi-level social structure exists within hunter-gatherer communities to structure social life and co-operation in important activities such as foraging and food sharing: 'Food sharing and cooperation are central for hunter-gatherers.