Abstract
The hypothesis that energy-rich wild plant foods are too scarce in rain forest to allow subsistence by foraging peoples independently of agriculture lacks a firm empirical basis. Data on availability of wild plant foods such as wild yams are sorely lacking, and where quantitative information is provided to support the hypothesis, it usually concerns extent of use of wild plant foods: low availability is tacitly inferred from low use. We explore the alternative hypothesis that “extent of use” underestimates availability of wild yams and other wild plant foods; these foods are present in large enough quantities to support hunter-gatherers, but have become increasingly neglected with increasing availability of cultivated plant foods. Thus, the subsistence of contemporary rain forest foraging peoples, in which extensive relationships with sedentary farmers appear to be universal, may be a somewhat distorted reflection of their subsistence in the pre-agricultural past. Drawing on data from ecology, archeology, ethnohistory, and linguistics, we argue that pygmy foraging peoples of the western Congo basin were present in rain forest environments before the advent of farming villagers.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alcorn, J. (1981). Huastec noncrop management: Implications for prehistoric rainforest management.Human Ecology 9: 395–417.
Alexandre, D. Y. (1989).Dynamique de la Régénération Naturelle en Forêt Dense de Côte d'Ivoire. ORSTOM, Paris.
Bahuchet, S. (1972). Etude écologique d'un campement de pygmées Babinga (Région de la Lobaye, Republique Centrafricaine).Journal d'Agriculture Tropicale et de Botanique Appliquée 19: 509–559.
Bahuchet, S. (1975). Rapport sur une mission effectuée en saison sèche en Lobaye (R.C.A.): Obserations sur la vie d'une famille de Pygmées Bayaka.Journal d'Agriculture Tropicale et de Botanique Appliquée 22: 177–179.
Bahuchet, S. (1979). Notes pour l'histoire de la région de Bagandou. In Bahuchet, S. (éd.),Pygmées de Centrafrique SELAF, Paris, pp. 51–76.
Bahuchet, S. (1985).Les Pygmées Aka et la Forêt Centrafricaine, Ethnologie Écologique. SELAF, Paris, “Ethnosciences 1.”
Bahuchet, S. (1987). Historical Perspectives on the Aka and Baka Pygmies in the Western Congo Basin. 86th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago.
Bahuchet, S. (1988). Food supply uncertainty among the Aka Pygmies (Lobaye, C.A.R.). In de Garine, I., and Harrison, G.A. (eds.),Coping with Uncertainty in Food Supply. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 118–149.
Bahuchet, S. (1989a).Les Pygmées Aka et Baka: Contribution de l'Ethnolinguistique à l'Histoire des Populations Forestières d'Afrique Centrale. Thèse de doctorat d'état es lettres et sciences humaines, Université René Descartes Paris V.
Bahuchet, S. (1989b). Les noms d'arbres des Pygmées de l'Ouest du bassin congolais.Adansonia, Bulletin du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Série Botanique (Paris), 11 (4e série): 355–365.
Bahuchet, S. (1991). Les Pygmées d'aujourd'hui en Afrique centrale.Journal des Africanistes (Paris), 61(1): 5–35.
Bahuchet, S., and Guillaume, H. (1982). Aka-farmer relations in the northwest Congo basin. In Leacock, E.B., and Lee, R.B. (eds.),Politics and History in Band Societies. Cambridge University Press and Museum des Sciences Humaines, Cambridge/Paris, pp. 189–211.
Bahuchet, S., and Thomas, J. M. C. (1986). Linguistique et histoire des Pygmées de l'ouest du bassin congolais.Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 7(2): 73–103.
Bailey, R. C., Head, G., Tenike, M., Owen, B., Rechtman, R., and Zechenter, E. (1989). Hunting and gathering in tropical rainforest: Is it possible?American Anthropologist 91: 59–82.
Burkill, I. H. (1939). Notes on the genusDioscorea in the Belgian Congo.Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de l'Etat à Bruxelles 15: 345–392.
Butzer, R. W. (1982).Archaeology in Human Ecology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, Melbourne.
Cavalli-Sforza, L. (ed.) (1986).African Pygmies. Academic Press, Orlando.
Chevalier, A. (1910). Sur lesDioscorea (Ignames) cultivées en Afrique tropicale et sur un cas de “sélection naturelle” relatif a une espèce spontanée dans la forêt vierge.Bulletin de la Societe Nationale d'Acclimatation Française 6: 213–217.
Clist, B. (1989). Archaeology in Gabon, 1886–1988.The African Archaeological Review 7: 59–95.
Coursey, D. G. (1976). The origins and domestication of yams in Africa. In Harlan, J. R., De Wet, J. M. J., and Stemler, A. B. L. (eds.),Origins of African Plant Domestication. Mouton, Paris/The Hague, pp. 383–408.
Dalby, D. (1976). The prehistorical implications of Outline's comparative Bantu. Part II: Interpretation of cultural vocabulary.Journal of African History 17: 1–27.
De Garine, I. (1991). Ecological success in perspective.Journal of Human Ecology Special Issue No. 1: 57–74.
De Maret, P. (1985). Recent archaeological research and dates from Central Africa.Journal of African History 26: 129–148.
Froment, A. (1990). Biomedical surveys in relation to food and nutrition. In Hladik, C. M., Bahuchet, S., and De Garine, I. (eds.),Food and Nutrition in the African Rain Forest. UNESCO/MAB, Paris, pp. 69–72.
Groube, L. (1989). The taming of the rain forests: A model for Late Pleistocene forest exploitation in New Guinea. In Harris, D. R., and Hillman, G. C. (eds.),Foraging and Farming. The Evolution of Plant Exploitation. Unwin Hyman, London, pp. 292–304.
Guthrie, M. (1967–1971).Comparative Bantu. Gregg, Hants, England.
Halle, F., Oldeman, R. A. A., and Tomlinson, P. B. (1978).Tropical Trees and Forests, an Architectural Analysis. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, and New York.
Hart, T., and Hart, J. (1986). The ecological basis of hunter-gatherer subsistence in African rain forests: The Mbuti of eastern Zaire.Human Ecology 14: 29–55.
Hartshorn, G. (1978). Treefalls and tropical forest dynamics. In Tomlinson, P. B., and Zimmermann, M. (eds.),Tropical Trees as Living Systems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 617–638.
Headland, T. (1987). The wild yam question: How well could independent hunter-gatherers live in a tropical rainforest ecosystem?Human Ecology 15: 463–491.
Headland, T., and Reid, L. (1989). Hunter-gatherers and their neighbors from prehistory to the present.Current Anthropology 30: 43–66.
Hiernaux, J. (1977). Long-term biological effects of human migration from Africa savanna to the Equatorial forest: A case study of human adaptation to a hot and wet climate. In Harrison, G. (ed.),Population Structure and Human Variation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 187–217.
Hiernaux, J., and Froment, A. (1976). The correlations between anthropological and climatic variables in sub-Saharan Africa: Revised estimates.Human Biology 48: 757–767.
Hladik, A. (1982). Dynamique d'une fôret équatoriale africaine.Acta Oecologica, Oecologia Generalis 3: 373–392.
Hladik, A., Bahuchet, S., Ducatillion, C. and Hladik, C. (1984). Les plantes à tubercule de la forêt dense d'Afrique Centrale.La Terre et la Vie 39: 249–290.
Hladik, C. M., Bahuchet, S., and De Garine, I. (eds.) (1990).Food and Nutrition in the African Rain Forest. UNESCO/MAB, Paris.
Johns, T. (1990).With Bitter Herbs They Shall Eat II. Chemical Ecology and the Origins of Human Diet and Medicine. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Leacock, E. B., and Lee, R. B. (eds.) (1982).Politics and History in Band Societies. Cambridge University Press and Museum des Sciences Humaines, Paris/Cambridge.
Lewin, R. (1988). New views emerge on hunters and gatherers.Science 240: 1146–1148.
Livingstone, D. (in press). Evolution of climates from the Cretaceous to the Quaternary in Africa and South America. In Goldblatt, P. (ed.),Biological Relationships Between Africa and South America. Yale University Press, New Haven.
Maley, J. (1987). Fragmentation de la forêt dense humide ouest-africaine et extension des biotopes montagnards au quaternaire récent: Nouvelles données polliniques et chronologiques; implications paléoclimatiques et biogéographiques.Palaeoecology of Africa 18: 307–344.
Maley, J. (1989). Late quaternary climatic changes in the African rain forest: Forest refugia and the major role of sea surface temperature variations. In Leinen, M., and Sarnthein, M. (eds.),Paleoclimatology and Paleometeorology: Modern and Past Patterns of Global Atmospheric Transport. NATO ASI Series Vol. 282, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, pp. 585–616.
Marshall, E. (1989). Anthropologists debate Tasaday hoax evidence.Science 246: 1113–1114.
Motte, M.-E. (1980).Les Plantes chez les Pygmées Aka et les Monzombo de la Lobaye (RCA).SELAF, Paris.
Murdock, G. (1959).Africa, Its Peoples and Their Culture History. McGraw-Hill, New York.
Omi, G., and Kato, Y. (1982). Paleolithic implements in Cameroon. In Kadomura, H. (ed.),Geomorphology and Environmental Changes in the Forest and Savanna of Cameroon. Kokkaido University, Sapporo, pp. 105–127.
Pagezy, H. (1982). Seasonal hunger as experienced by the Oto and Twa of a Ntomba village in the equatorial forest (Lake Tumba, Zaire).Ecology of Food and Nutrition 12: 139–153.
Pagezy, H. (1988). Coping with uncertainty and food supply among Oro and Twa living in the equatorial flooded forest near Lake Tumba, Zaire. In De Garine, I., and Harrison, G. A. (eds.),Coping with Uncertainty in Food Supply. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 175–209.
Sahlins, M. (1972).Stone Age Economics. Aldine, Chicago.
Sapir, E. (1916).Time Perspective in Aboriginal American Culture: A Study in Method. Anthropological Survey Vol. 13, Canada Department of Mines, Geological Survey Memoir No. 90, pp. 389–462.
Schrire, C. (ed.) (1984).Past and Present in Hunter-Gatherer Studies. Academic Press, Orlando.
Shaw, T. (1976). Early crops in Africa: A review of the evidence. In Harlan, J. R., De Wet, J. M. J., and Stemler, A. B. L. (eds.),Origins of African Plant Domestication. Mouton, The Hague/Paris, pp. 107–153.
Speth, J. (1987). Early hominid subsistence strategies in seasonal habitats.Journal of Archaeological Science 14: 13–29.
Speth, J. (1989). Early hominid hunting and scavenging: The role of meat as an energy source.Journal of Human Evolution 18: 329–343.
Thomas, J. M. C. (1963).Les Ngbaka de la Lobaye. Le Dépeuplement Rural chez une Population Forestière de la République Centrafricaine. Mouton, The Hague/Paris.
Thomas, J. M. C. (1979). Emprunt ou Parenté? À propos des parlers des populations forestières de Centrafrique. In Bahuchet, S. (ed.),Pygmées de Centrafrique. Etudes Ethnologigues, Historiques et Linguistiques sur les Pygmées BaMbenga du Nord-Ouest du Bassin Congolais. SELAF, Paris, pp. 141–169.
Van Noten, F. (1982).The Archaeology of Central Africa. Akademische Drückund Verlagsgesellschaft, Graz, Austria.
Vansina, J. (1990).Paths in the Rainforest. Toward a History of Political Tradition in Equatorial Africa. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison.
Vincent, A. (1984). Plant foods in savanna environments: A preliminary report of tubers eaten by the Hadza of northern Tanzania.World Archaeology 17: 130–148.
White, F. (1983).The Vegetation of Africa. UNESCO, Paris.
Whitmore, T. (1975).Tropical Rain Forests of the Far East. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Wilmsen, E. N. (1989). Those who have each other: San relations to land. In Wilmsen, E. M. (ed.),We Are Here: Politics of Aboriginal Land Tenure. University of California Press, Berkeley, pp. 43–67.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bahuchet, S., McKey, D. & de Garine, I. Wild yams revisited: Is independence from agriculture possible for rain forest hunter-gatherers?. Hum Ecol 19, 213–243 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00888746
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00888746