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Abstract
This dissertation presents an analysis of foraging strategies among contemporary Inuit (Canadian Eskimos), using the hypothetico-deductive framework of optimal foraging theory (OFT). The general goal of the thesis is to evaluate the anthropological utility of OFT, and to integrate this segment of evolutionary ecology with extant views of hunter-gatherer social behavior and economic decision-making. The specific goal is to determine to what extent a group of Inuit pursues optimal strategies of resource procurement. This question is formalized with models derived from OFT, and empirically examined along several dimensions: prey selection and optimal diet breadth; time allocation and habitat choice; co-operative foraging and group size; and exchange-based aspects of foraging in the context of a mixed economy.
The dissertation reports on field research conducted July 1977 through August 1978 in the Inuit villae of Inukjuak (Port Harrison), Quebec. Over 600 Inuit reside in the village, and participate in a mixed economy based on foraging (hunting, fishing, and trapping), craft production, and wage labor. Data were collected through participant observation, through interviews, and from available records on foraging activities and socioeconomic variables. The primary data series generated over the year consists of time and energy data on 687 hunts covering nearly 25,000 hunter-hours of foraging effort.
Foraging activity is classified into more than 20 hunt types (based on prey type, hunt location, and behavioral criteria). Sex- and age-specific rates of energy expenditure are estimated from time-motion data on each hunt type. The caloric value of the edible portion harvested during each hunt is also estimated. Foraging efficiency (net energy captured per unit foraging time) is used as the major cost-benefit currency in evaluating foraging alternatives and quantifying test outcomes. Monetary cost-benefit analyses are applied independently to several decision sets.
The hypotheses tested, and the test outcomes (in brief), include: (1) Increased resource abundance or increased foraging efficiency leads to decreased diet breadth, and vice versa: supported by results. (2) Prey types are included or excluded from the diet in their rank order of energetic efficiency: generally supported, with some exceptions. (3) Hunt types are added to the foraging itinerary over an annual cycle if and only if (a) this increases overall foraging efficiency, or (b) total harvest levels decline: strongly supported. (4) For each hunt type, Inuit forage in optimally-sized groups, so as to maximize energetic efficiency per individual group member: supported statistically in half the tested cases. (5) Time allocated to different hunt types and habitats covaries with their efficiency rank order, such that more time is allocated to more productive types or areas: weakly supported for hunt types, strongly supported for seasonal and monthly habitat utilization. (6) Incorporation of monetary costs and benefits in an integrated measure of foraging efficiency lowers the absolute efficiency values, but does not significantly alter the relative efficiency rankings, of a set of foraging alternatives: confirmed in the case of alternative hunt types.
The analytical results indicate that much of the variation in Inuit foraging behavior is predicted quite closely by OFT models. From this, I conclude that OFT offers a very useful, but not completely sufficient, analytical program for explaining hunter-gatherer resource procurement decisions. The theory is of limited use in the context of forager participation in a monetary exchange system, but does offer some insights unavailable to standard economic analysis. The general implication of the research is that evolutionary ecology is a body of theory with much promise for anthropological applications.
