The film Food foragers and pastoralists shows different patterns of subsistence by examinating some societies of that kind.
First more detailed described are the Netsilik Eskimos. Their life is like all of foragers – adaptation to their environment. Since any kind of agriculture is impossible and ice is very thick, they have developed unique seal hunting technique. Everything they use is carefully crafted by hand from available natural resources. In Netsilik society religion is very significant, for instance, legend about Sea Goddess, Mistress of Sea and Land who is the source of all the animals that human beings need to survive, and that eating liver of freshly killed seal is a way to pay tribute to her. Because they must constantly be on move to find food, they can own only what they can carry. Thus the impossibility of accumulating wealth in the form of possessions leads to equality of social position and the absence of formal government. …
