The Myth of Man the Hunter: Women’s contribution to the hunt across ethnographic contexts

PLoS ONE • Vol/Iss. 18(6) • Public Library of Science • • Published In • Pages: e0287101 •
By Anderson, Abigail, Chilczuk, Sophia, Nelson, Kaylie, Ruther, Roxanne, Wall-Scheffler, Cara

Abstract

After noticing that recent archaeological research has found evidence that women in pre-history were probably hunters, the authors use the ethnographic record from 63 foraging populations to explore the role of women in hunting. They explore what proportion of societies expect women to contribute to hunting, if women hunt, what proportion was opportunistic or intentional, whether women hunters were skilled, and whether women hunted with children.

Note

Note that hypothesis 1 is their main hypothesis; hypotheses 2-3 are listed as hypotheses here, but more accurately describe results. Venkataram et al (2024) published an article criticizing Anderson et al (2023)'s methods and coding errors, leading to bias in their results. This entry can be found here: http://192.168.10.248/documents/1518. Since they replicated the original study and found multiple errors, the results have been changed to "claimed supported."

Samples

Sample Used Coded Data Comment
D-PLACEResearchers' ownUsed to identify 391 foraging societies from which 63 societies were selected. These 63 had explicit information on hunting.

Hypotheses (3)

HypothesisSupported
Women are expected to have a role in hunting in the majority of hunter-gatherer communities.Claimed supported
Women are intentionally involved in hunting in hunter-gatherer communities.Claimed supported
Women significantly participate in big-game hunting.Claimed supported
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: isanaraja  stefania.becerralavado