ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book brings together nine papers originally prepared for a symposium entitled "The regulation of environmental resources in food-collecting societies; cognitive, ecological, and political-legal perspectives on Australia and North America" and presented January 1980 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco. It presents the field research findings of the authors. The book suggests dismantling the hunter-gatherer category; Lewis' research on fire technology provides evidence that hunter-gatherers are no less food producers than are farmers. It reviews the hunter-gatherer definitional controversies and the contentions concerning the relevance of hunter-gatherers for evolutionary reconstruction. The book explores the issue of the meaning of contemporary legal claims by the heirs of hunter-gatherers in Australia and North America to continuing rights of control over resources and land.
