Anthropological Applications of Optimal Foraging Theory: A Critical Review
Author(s)
Smith, Eric Alden
Abstract
Recent applications of models of optimal foraging behavior to human foraging economies are summarized and evaluated. These models predict patterns of prey choice, habitat use, time allocation, settlement pattern, and foraging group size that will maximize some objective currency (such as the net rate of energy capture while foraging) under the constraints of resource characteristics and forager capabilities pertaining to a particular situation. Issues raised in anthropological critiques of optimal foraging theory are also discussed, including (1) the models’ degree of realism, (2) the validity of neo-Darwinian assumptions and simple energetic-efficiency currencies, (3) the need to incorporate the effects of risk and uncertainty, and (4) the relation of individual decision-making to processes occuring at larger spatial and temporal scales. Despite the validity of certain criticisms, optimal foraging theory appears to offer a useful addition to more orthodox analyses of hunter-gatherer subsistence patterns and may help reconcile the empirically described diversity of these patterns with the search for general explanations.
