Supposing Hunter-gatherer Variability

J B. S. Haldane, the British geneticist, once mused, "my suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose ,but queerer than we can suppose" (Haldane 1927:286). This comment can be paraphrased to summarize the fundamental problem presently facing hunter-gatherer studies: there is more variation among recent and especially past hunter-gatherer societies than we have supposed. The central theoretical problem is whether there is and was more variability than our current theories can suppose. These three books represent very different approaches to supposing variability. Hunter-gatherer studies matter. They are at the core of the anthropological and archaeological enterprise (Bettinger 1991), which is explaining the tremendous diversity among human cultures. Hunter-gatherers are, as Bettinger (1991) says, the ultimate testing ground for general anthropological and archaeological theories. Additionally, hunter-gatherer studies are one of the few remaining places where sociocultural anthropology, archaeology, bioanthropology, and even linguisBOOK REVIEW 1-;SSAY