It is widely thought that everyone was a ‘pure’ hunter-gatherer until agriculture was developed in the Middle East. This is said to have revolutionised the way people lived, greatly improving living standards for those who adopted it, and eventually giving birth to ‘civilization’. Such a simplistic rendition of the human experience is integral to the notion that tribal hunters are ‘backward’. In reality, it is the idea itself which is out of date: it is simply wrong and in need of urgent demolition.
Stephen Corry (Tribal Peoples for Tomorrow’s World)
