The Geopolitics of Foraging Bands

Nomadic hunter-gatherer bands cooperated and competed with other bands when they met. These were autonomous polities^[257] in the general sense of an au­thority structure that was not subject to the control of a larger human authority.

Competition among nomadic groups for territorial resources was one of the main causes of the migrations of modern humans out of Africa, across Eurasia, and to the Americas. In addition to resource scarcity, linguistic and kinship ties also influenced the likelihood of competition vs. cooperation. Kinship categories allowed for the construction of cooperative ties among bands. Individuals not present could be categorized as cousins or uncles thought to be related by blood or spiritual kinship to members of the band. Acknowledged family connections among bands (tribes) often prescribed cooperation and proscribed violent com­petition.^[259] And relations with non-kin others or strangers were also culturally constructed in the sense that humans who were not classified as kin were usu­ally thought to be inferior and dangerous. Thus were the interpolity interactions among nomadic foraging bands already cultural because both kinship and oth­erness were socially constructed.

The elaboration of othering continued as population density increased: nomadic foragers developed yearly circular migration routes, and, with further increases in population density, these routes became more compact and groups devel­oped differentiated regional identities that are indicated by stylistic differences in toolkits, especially projectile points.^[261] Further population growth and the emer­gence of a more diversified foraging strategy (hunting smaller game, fishing, and gathering more vegetable materials) eventually led to the emergence of sedentary foragers living in winter villages.

Yet migration continued to fill up the lands. At first the sites most suited to prevailing technologies and cultures were occupied. Later migration filled in re­maining spaces. Even then, some areas remained unoccupied. Competing territo­rial groups often left unoccupied buffer zones in order to minimize the chances of encountering dangerous competitors for space.