Paleolithic Societies
Although the San and the Chumash were both hunter-gatherers, their culture and lifestyle had significant differences. Many cultures around the world had their fair share of differences. If you look closer though, you can find certain patterns that occur in many of the first societies that emerged in the world. Even these days, you can find the same types of patterns in people. The San lived in Southern Africa. They are also known as Bushmen, Sho, Barwa, Kung, or Khwe.
Their lifestyle consisted of much leisure time, and the children did nothing but play. Women were greatly respected and admired in the San culture. The women would take part in both gathering and hunting, but mainly gathering. They used everything very wisely, including parts of ostrich eggs to hold fluids. Overall, the San were your typical hunter-gatherer society of the Paleolithic era. The Chumash lived in Southern California. They were also a hunter-gatherer society. They also were very good fisherman.
They painted on cave walls and some of the drawings are still there today. Some of the Chumash settlements are believed to be over 10,000 years old. They were visited by the Spanish, which brought many diseases to the Chumash. They were also believed to be visited by Polynesians. Comparing these two cultures, we can see some similarities and many differences. They were both hunter-gatherer people. As their main food sources migrated, they followed along with them. Some differences would be that they lived in completely different parts of the world.
The San did not fish, yet the Chumash did. They both have many more similarities and differences. The cultures I have compared and contrasted are only two of the many Paleolithic societies out there. They all can be recognized by their hunting and gathering ways. They followed their food, and obviously made it work for themselves. I think it would be an interesting journey to go back in time and see how they lived and interacted with each other before the emerging of some of the technology that is common to us today.
