ABSTRACT
In the late 1980s, researchers of hunter-gatherer societies engaged in a lively discussion about the hypothesis of the "Wild Yam Question," that it was impossible for human beings to live without agricultural products in a tropical rainforest. This chapter examines which food resources the Baka cooperators acquired as well as the costs of acquisition, we test the wild yam question hypothesis. It discusses what features of the foraging lifestyle have been revealed and their implications for reconstructing the Stone Age foraging lifestyle in the African tropical rainforest. All the Baka cooperators lived in a small sedentary settlement near Ndongo, a farming village in the Moloundou Subprefecture inhabited mainly by the Bakwele. During the survey period, the cooperators collected wild yam and yam-like tubers, wild honey, termites, edible fungi, nuts, and the like. In addition, they set snares and fished. The forest resources in southeastern Cameroon are able to support the foraging life independent of farming products in all four seasons.
