An Anthropological Analysis of Food-Getting Technology.

Abstract

Technology, material culture, and artifacts are unexciting words, yet the ideas for which they stand are of immeasurable importance in the lives of all peoples -- in the past, in the present, and presumably in any future that we may conceive. These key words most often evoke thoughts about the mundane or the highly technical. From another perspective technological achievements may be seen as responsible for many of our ills, and yet it is reasonable to assume that today's technology is underdeveloped in terms of our future needs and desires. Where we have been, what we are, and where we may be going are at least partially embodied in those things that we make and call artifacts.Technology casts such a long shadow over all we do that we cannot begin to imagine living without its products. The ability of people to fashion materials into standardized forms has made it possible for human populations to occupy nearly all of the earth as well as to probe beneath and beyond its surface. The elaboration of skills and the expansion of knowledge required to produce artifacts are undeniably among the most remarkable of all human developments even though we may deplore some of the productions. Distrust of our material heritage exists, at least in part, because we seldom-- if ever --attempt to understand how our artifacts came to be what they are or what future forms and purposes they may assume. An orderly approach to the things that people have made would serve us well, for only then could we begin to appreciate what technology has done for us, as well as to us, within the sweep of time. It would be unfair for me to imply that I can offer a key to what the future holds, but I do hope to impart greater understanding about the future of technology through an analysis of past achievements.This book is an anthropological analysis of technology from its hypothesized beginnings. One primary goal is to offer a means for measuring the complexity of manufactures made by any people, which in turn makes it theoretically possible to assess and compare changes in material culture through all of human time. Why involve ourselves with such concernst Let me state the reasons in brief.All people use objects that they have made. Thus the production of artifacts characterizes every human society and serves as a crucial means of distinguishing people from nearly all other creatures.Of all the information about the pasts of people we have far more data about technology than about any other quality of their culture. Thus, in any attempt to plot changing human lifeways through time, technology serves as a most useful guide.It is accepted as beyond reputable dispute that changes in manufactures are cumulative on a long-range and broad-scale basis. Thus for the study of evolution in culture, technology is the most amenable dimension.All the things that we make today are based on knowledge derived from past achievements. Thus we will not, in fact cannot, produce anything in the immediate future that is not derived from an existing part of our present technological knowledge. It is the technology of the remote and recent past that in a very real sense has led to the artifacts that we now make, and past achievements serve as the essential substratum for the inventions of tomorrow. Whether we like it or not, technology is increasing in importance on a day-to-day basis. We might rejoice in this because it indicates growing human control over the natural world. If, however, one considers this disturbing, one might be well advised to at least know the enemy.All people make objects in order to obtain food. Thus what we eat and how we acquire it are dependent on our technology. The availability of eatables more than anything else establishes the standard of living for a society, and as a result the artifacts devoted to food production may be considered the most critical manufactures in any peoples inventory.In sum the thrust of this book is as follows: All people make things in order to live as humans, and the forms produced have changed through time in an orderly manner. It is worthwhile to analyze these changes so that we may better comprehend the nature of our material past, present, and future.