Hunting and gathering

Hunting and gathering emerged with Homo erectus about 1.8 million years ago and was humanity's original and most enduringly successful competitiveadaptation in the natural world, occupying at least 90 percent of human history. Following the Neolithic Revolution, hunter-gatherer communities were outcompeted by the more productive agrarian/pastoralist communities and those that did not undergo lifestyle changes were displaced or conquered in most parts of the world, as the latter often have surplus food storages to support larger populations and a division of labor that promotes technological advancement in metallurgy, medicine, transportation and armaments. In Western Eurasia, the replacement of hunter-gatherers by farming societies happened more gradually, as dense forests remained their last refuge until Bronze and Iron Age societies fully overcame them eventually. Today, only a few contemporary societies of uncontacted peoples are still classified as hunter-gatherers, and many of them supplement their foraging activity with horticulture or pastoralism.