Hunter-gatherer use of wild plants and domesticates: archaeological implications for mixed economies before agricultural intensification

Much of our success as a species derives from the ability to adapt hunting and gathering to diverse ecologies and incorporate a wide range of food resources. Hunter-gatherers maintain broad dietary options through an array of alternative and fallback strategies. While many decisions facing foragers have been analyzed, few paired nutritional and return rate data are available, especially in relation to the value of wild roots. Ethnoarchaeological data from a group of South American hunter-gatherers allow us to comparatively assess the value of root resources by observing what mobile foragers do when presented with the option to retain or replace wild foods with domesticates. Nutritional content and foraging returns indicate that cultivated tubers provide no clear nutritional or labor advantages. Evidence also does not suggest that wild roots are inferior resources. This may explain why some foragers incorporate domesticates without replacing dependence on wild foods, or signaling a transition to an agrarian economy. This perspective has archaeological implications for modeling of past subsistence during initial and early exploitation of cultigens.