Autism and Hunter Gatherer societies

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So, I have read a little about the theory that ADHD kids are thought to have been better at Hunter gatherer societies versus non ADHD kids who would seem to have traits that would be better in an Agrarian society. I.e. Nomadic tribes that hunt versus stable farmlands.

Now I'm wondering if people feel there is a connection to that same idea but with Autism. What traits do you have in yourself that would serve well in stalking a prey and catching it? Now suddenly with your eyes on the prize here is a lion jumping out of a tall stand of grass to your right.

I'm MUCH better suited to the gatherer side. I'm all about sorting and categorizing. I would have been a champion at remembering where berries or greens or edible mushrooms could be found and I'm great at recognizing small differences that would have made the difference between poisonous and non-poisonous fair.
Also, I have a high startle threshold, so I would most likely have survived animal/foreign band attacks. Sweet!

I find that despite my clumsiness I seem to have cat like reflexes. Not really sure why except maybe my brain just figured out the proper timing involved with gravity, When I walk into a room I tend to notice all the entrances and exits. I'm not paranoid about it; I like to call it cautious awareness.

I never saw ADHD as lack of attention but actually as too much attention. My experience with ADHD was that it was hard for me to direct that intense attention at one thing if something else was calling my attention from my a blind spot.

Oops! I don't have ADHD, just a sadly short attention span. I don't mean to skew your responses. Hopefully I haven't

I would be great at gathering because I love looking for and finding things. I tell you, for me filling up a bucket of something (of all the same thing especially) that I find is more satisfying to me than an earth shattering orgasm LOL
I once wanted to become and archaeologist simply so I could dig and find things. I could spend hours looking for something without much incentive to do so because looking is half the fun and finding is the other half of course!

Although I would find it very hard to kill an animal I would probably be very good at hunting game. I've done clay shooting and was told on my first day I was a better shot than 80% of the men who started, and was encouraged to train for tournaments. Unfortunately I have an inconvenient eye condition (keratoconus) that I've been trying to get treated properly so I can actually participate in the sport to the fullest, because it is hard to shoot when my dominant eye sees double all by itself!

I doubt there were autistic people back then. If there were, they were likely either killed at birth or kicked out of the community unless they were super mild. Probably only BAP people even existed. It's likely some environmental factor that turns BAP (which is quite sensible as an evolutionary advantage in many circumstances) into autism.

BAP people can think outside the box and are good problem solvers. This would help for catching large prey with primitive tools. People with autistic traits can also become engrossed in subjects like weather, trap-making, or animal tracking (as I was as a child in a rural area). Daniel Boone may have been BAP.

My theory is that all of us are BAP NT's who were damaged by something in our environment. A cure, for us, would be basically just a narrow increase in our major deficiencies, including social skills and sensory issues, that wouldn't change our personalities or abilities much. I bet autistic traits in primitive societies were found in people like we would be if we were cured. Because being BAP is awesome while being autistic is horrible and sucks.

I just want to point out before I respond that it is incorrect to assume that anyone who wasn't hunting or gathering food in hunter-gatherer societies would have been useless to the group. There were many other skills people in those societies also needed which would be valued (examples would be making tools, utensils and clothing, medicinal knowledge, building shelters, and food preparation, among others). If it existed (and whether it looked the same way, I am sure combinations of similar traits would have been present to some degree) I think people with AS traits would have been just as useful in older societies as they are now in certain areas in modern society like science and IT.

I don't think most autistic people would be very good at hunting (I wouldn't), but I think most would be likely to be good at gathering food, as well as making things, such as tools and hunting implements. I don't know for sure, but I would guess from human social behaviours in other societies that those with any form of mental disadvantage or disability like mid or low functioning autism would have remained with the women and children, either gathering food or helping in another fashion, though the disability would probably put them at higher risk of death from natural or human causes than others.

Funny, I scored low in "hunter", but I am a keen fisherwoman and gatherer, - but most of all, a toolmaker.

As a kid I was often on the water, I fished, I made shelters in brushed areas for forts, I made tools, I loved archery, and love being in the wilderness. Recently I’ve had the idea in my head of taking up archery again with compound bows and also rock climbing. Some day I would like a secluded cabin in the woods. I love going to pick wild blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries. There used to some large patches of wild raspberries near my apartment and several years a ago development came and new restaurants and housing went up so those raspberry patches were paved over: it made me sad; as I think of them whenever I walk by, missing the smell. I’ve also worked on a farm for many of my years. Last year when I was in a very depressed mood I was writing my thoughts down from time to time (a CBT strategy), and I wrote how I hated the city and “My genes are with the forests.” I think I would make an excellent, and much happier, semi-nomadic hunter gatherer, with a little gardening thrown in from time to time.

The OP's theory is something worth discussing.

I'd prefer it to the exchanges going on in this sub-forum about other theories.

I think we'd still have encountered large amounts of difficulty because of our failures of communication.

Some zoologists have observed "autistic" individuals in herds of herbivorous animals. They would linger just outside of the group, and not be able to settle in the same way as most of the herd. They seemed to notice predators first and warn the others to run. Whilst this involves anthropomorphising the animals somewhat, perhaps it gives us an insight into the advantages an Aspie could have provided hunter-gatherer societies.

I sensed the lion coming and have placed myself in a safe location already.

I have heightened senses when it comes to sensing danger and possible problems that might arise when pursuing a course of action or taking a certain route (even in the modern day way). I can also sense a storm coming so would have sought shelter long before it actually got here.

Meanwhile, the people making incessant chit chat have been eaten because they were not paying attention to their environment and were busy making gossip instead! I am surprised they didn't all die out, but I guess when we settled down and stopped being prey for predators things changed.

God dammit!

How do we know that most cavemen (so to speak) were not autistic in nature?

Someone must have spent hours developing new tools....or did they consider that to be just another stupid interest that was a waste of time as well? I doubt it.

Every tribe needs a good look out, so someone sensitive to the environment would have been useful. You don't need a social chit chatter for that, their attention is too divided.

In those days we roamed in SMALL groups...not crowded cities. The social setting would have been more suited to those with Autism. We did not have all the noise, hustle, electronic equipment either so it would be unlikely that many autistics would have been over loaded by their surroundings.

Given that many with Aspergers can also tend to have a high IQ or talent in areas related to their interests this would also have been very very beneficial and even desirable back in those days (these days the emphasis is more on socialising to the point where I actually feel it is starting to become detrimental to the human race...I think IQs are slowly dropping as the people with other types of intelligence are marginalised by a society obsessed with pointless social rituals and chit chat). Yes a person needs to have some social skills but not to the degree or in the ways we value them today. It has quite frankly become ridiculous.

There is more war, more fighting, more aggression...even after we settled farmers died younger than their hunter gatherer counterparts due to the increase in violence, especially if crops failed in one of the villages. We turned on each other basically...

Before that we supported our sick, roamed in small groups, had less modern day diseases, fewer infections (which we developed more of from living in close proximity with farmed animals after settling) and so on but because we had to live in larger social settlements after we gave up our hunter gatherer ways the emphasis on socialising became more important. It became vital...However, these days it is over emphasised instead.

Our modern day lifestyles are not healthy for us and are making us sick as we also became shorter, less muscular, less healthy and we developed more tooth decay etc . Mental health problems are on the rise and the human race is slowly starting to fall apart. And it is falling apart. It thinks it is making progress but if you look closely enough the cracks are really starting to show!

Before that our lifestyles and social world would have been quit different.

Autism, to a certain extent, would have actually worked quite well in that environment. It just doesn't work so well in the modern world.

Sorry about the rambling (I rambled a bit).

As for hunting prey?

Well careful observation of the environment would help...
An ability to stay focused for long periods of time on beneficial or interesting activities
Sensitivity to the environment...I can sense where my prey is *evil laugh but quietly so I don't disturb it*
High intelligence..I can come up with creative ways of hunting and new tools to do it with.....
Good at systemising? every hunter needs an effective system or technique....

The social chit chatter hunting:

"Oh I am sorry I lost the prey talking to ug over there, me and ug got distracted by the local gossip about og and well...is there a mcdonalds nearby perhaps we can get a burger from there instead?"

Most social chit chatters would not have survived as a hunter gatherer, they would have either starved or been eaten by something.

Last edited by bumble on 24 Mar 2013, 11:26 am, edited 4 times in total.

I wonder if some such people might tend to become a Shaman type characters or a Medicine Man or Witch Doctor. They're not a typical tribal member or able to be a chief, but a person who fills an unusual niche.

The chief might even consult with them for insight, yet ironically they themselves would not likely be allowed to lead.

People would have specialised, yes and it would have been very very beneficial to a small group for people to do that. You would have had your hunters (who would have sat around the fire at night exchanging tips and technques and talking about their special hunting interest), you would have had the gatherers, the medicine people, the artists who kept painting all over the walls, the tool makers and so on.

It would have had evolutionary benefit and would have enabled the group to work better a whole

Then of course you would have the social chit chats who sat around making gossip, generally causing trouble by spreading said gossip and splitting the group apart (by causing in fighting). As for actually doing some work...they would find a stream (primitive version of the water cooler) somewhere so they could stand and chat around it. I suppose they were useful for finding water supplies....