Nb. Jones et al., FORAGING RETURNS OF KUNG ADULTS AND CHILDREN - WHY DIDNT KUNG CHILDREN FORAGE, Journal of anthropological research, 50(3), 1994, pp. 217-248
Children of the hunting and gathering !Kung San seldom foraged, especi
ally during the long dry season. In contrast, children of Hadza forage
rs in Tanzania often forage, in both wet and dry seasons. Because we h
ave argued that the economic dependence of !Kung children has importan
t consequences, we must try to understand why they did not forage. !Ku
ng Experimental data on foraging by !Kung adults and children show tha
t children would have had to walk far from dry season camps to acquire
much food. interviews suggest that !Kung children risk getting lost i
f they wander unsupervised into the bush. Thus, foraging without adult
company was a poor option for !Kung children. Foraging with adults mi
ght have been a better strategy. We calculate the benefits to a !Kung
mother if her oldest child accompanied her to the nut groves. Because
of the high processing costs, a child's work time was most profitably
spent at home cracking nuts.