THEAFRICANS
guess. In all this we see evidence of masterly adaptation to the environ-
ment.P
Most modern people assume that hunter-gatherers were so incompetent
and undernourished that they had to work continuously to survive. Schol-
ars have demonstrated that that assumption is false. Describing the mod-
ern !Kung, American anthropologist Marshall Sahlins says, "They lived in
a kind of material plenty because they adapted the tools of their living to
materials which lay in abundance around them and which were free for
anyone to take (wood, reeds, bone for weapons and implements, fibers for
cordage, grass for shelters), or to materials which were at least sufficient for
the needs of the population."13 Other studies of the !Kung, as well as
similar studies of modern Australian hunter-gatherers, demonstrate that
their way of life involves much less work per capita than our modern
"civilized" existence. In their present habitat, the !Kung spend about fif-
teen hours a week in hunting and gathering, and their daily per capita
subsistence yield is about
2, I 40 calories, well above the daily require-
ment.l" Hunter-gatherers had time and energy for subtle and complex
aesthetic expression in rock art and in music.
Sahlins also contends that typical hunter-gatherers lived in "pristine