Introduction

The indigenous hunter-gatherer groups of East Africa predate the Bantu movement into this region. These groups include the Okiek (or Ogiek), Sengwer, Yaaku, Hadza (or Hadzabe), Akie, Assa (or Aasax).

Location

East Africa includes the modern countries of Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Seychelles, and Comoros.

Groups

Hadza

The Hadza
The Hadza or the Hadzabe are an indigenous group located in the central area of Tanzania of East Africa. As of 2005 just less than 1000 definitive Hadza remained in East Africa (Lee and Hitchcock 2000). Of that 1000 around
half still function as hunter-gatherers.
Hunting and Gathering
Hadza division of labor is split between hunting and foraging. Although foraging is primarily done by women and hunting by men both genders are often active participants in hunting and foraging. It is not uncommon for women to bring back small game from time to time and most foraging parties are conducted with at least one male present (Kelly 2007). The Hadza diet consists of honey, fruit (mostly baobab), tubers, and meat from a variety of game such as dikers, baboons, and bush-pigs. The choice foods vary dependent on seasonal abundance and opportunity.
Tools
Foraging tools include: a digging stick, a large storage pouch made from animal hide which is used to carry smaller objects, a knife, and a variety of clothing items.
Hunting tools include: a bow with arrows, a small container for collecting honey, a three piece fire starter, and a variety of clothing items.
Language
Hadza language is a unique combination of plosives and clicks. Although similar to the language of the Khoisan and Sandawe the Hadza language is different in that very few of their terms have a common origin of relation in similarities. Meaning that most of their words are not branches of other words and most terms are entirely unique. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Language project has done a considerable amount of work on documenting in detail the Hadza language system, including their distinct language network. This archived project can be found at: http://archive.phonetics.ucla.edu/Language/HTS/hts.html

(Below right Hadzabe bushmen dancing in the Lake Eyasi region of Tanzania; left The Hadzabe Bushmen of Tanzania demonstrate their archery skills footage from unknow amateur)

Geography

“East Africa can be divided geographically into three subregions. The first, the Great Lakes Region, includes Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi. The second, the Horn of Africa, includes Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Djibouti, and Somalia. And the last subregion is the Indian Ocean islands of Comoros and Seychelles. These distinctions are made based on different types of vegetation, availability of water, and topography in the three regions.” (From exploring africa at msu edu)

Ethnographic Present

*Marlowe (1999, 2003, 2004) collected data on mate preferences, food sharing, critical provisioning, and the "showoff hypothesis", between 1995 and 1997.
*Hawkes et al. (1995) collected data on foraging among Hadza children in the Fall of 1988. Their work, published in 2001, was based on observations made between 1985 and 1986, with additional data added from 1986 through 1989.
*The data obtained by Wood (2006) on hunting preferences lacks a context for the time period the data was collected.
*Readers should be cautioned that the observations made in these publications do not necessarily reflect the behaviors or conditions of other forager groups not mentioned, nor should the observations be construed as persisting since the fieldwork was conducted.