Hunter-gatherer research has played a historically central role in the
development of anthropological and evolutionary theory. Today, research
in this traditional and enduringly vital field blurs lines of
distinction between archaeology and ethnology, and seeks instead to
develop perspectives and theories broadly applicable to anthropology and
its many sub disciplines.
In the groundbreaking first edition of Hunter-Gatherers: Archaeological
and Evolutionary Theory (1991), Robert Bettinger presented an
integrative perspective on hunter-gatherer research and advanced a
theoretical approach compatible with both traditional anthropological
and contemporary evolutionary theories.
Hunter-Gatherers remains a well-respected and much-cited text, now
over 20 years since initial publication. Yet, as in other vibrant fields
of study, the last two decades have seen important empirical and
theoretical advances. In this second edition of Hunter-Gatherers,
co-authors Robert Bettinger, Raven Garvey, and Shannon Tushingham offer
a revised and expanded version of the classic text, which includes a
succinct and provocative critical synthesis of hunter-gatherer and
evolutionary theory, from the Enlightenment to the present. New and
expanded sections relate and react to recent developments-some of them
the authors' own-particularly in the realms of optimal foraging and
cultural transmission theories.
An exceptionally informative and ambitious volume on cultural
evolutionary theory, Hunter-Gatherers, second edition, is an essential
addition to the libraries of anthropologists, archaeologists, and human
ecologists alike.
