Patterns of Subsistence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Patterns of Subsistence - Essay Example g, collecting or hunting for food, pastoralists acquire food from domesticated animals, horticulture is the method of plant cultivation which is non-industrial, agriculture is the production of food on a certain location for a long period of time, and industrialism is for societies that are not involved in processes of food production. Foraging is the oldest of all the human subsistence patterns. It dates back to 10,000 years ago when all the human societies depended upon hunting wild animals and searching for wild plants to survive upon. Till the 20th century, this had been a pattern of subsistence in some societies especially in areas such as tropical forests and deserts which were environmentally marginal areas. Foragers always depend on the environment for their resources. They don’t plant or domesticate animals and depend on their own manpower to carry out their subsistence tasks. The labor is done by families or friends in small groups. These societies don’t have an occupational choice and it is definite that the man would be the animal hunter and the woman would be the gatherer of plants (Prins, 2010). Pastoralism is a pattern of subsistence where people domesticate large herds of animals to make their living. Pastoralists would tend to domesticate different species and types of animals according to the region in which they are living. Most of these animals are herbivores that eat grasses. Horses are common specie for pastoralists in Central Asia while in East Africa, cattle is the common specie. In southwest Asia the animals are sheep and goats and in lowland areas of East Africa and Southwest Asia, camels are the common specie (Prins, 2010). Pastoralists usually depend upon the temperatures and conditions of the atmosphere according to which they change their system. Horticulture is the pattern of subsistence where low intensity and small scale farming takes place. This strategy involves planting and domesticating small animals that are raised for