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Gathering Tubers
In the Yaeda Valley of Tanzania, women and children set out to collect tubers, a staple food of the Hadza people.
Photograph by Matthieu Paley

The Hadza are a hunter-gatherer people who live in northern Tanzania.
Grades
6 - 8
Subjects
Anthropology, Social Studies, World History
The Hadza are a modern hunter-gatherer people living in northern Tanzania. They are considered one of the last hunter-gatherer tribes in Africa with approximately 1,300 tribe members. Their native homeland includes the Eyasi Valley and nearby hills. The Hadza remain an important study focus for anthropologists, as they represent a modern link to ways of human existence and survival largely abandoned by most of humanity.
As a hunter-gatherer society, the Hadza have no domesticated livestock, nor do they grow or store their own food. The Hadza survive by hunting their food with hand-made bows and arrows and foraging for edible plants. The Hadza diet is primarily plant-based but also consists of meat, fat, and honey. They create temporary shelters of dried grass and branches, and they own few possessions.
The Hadza speak a unique language known as Hadzane, which incorporates clicking and popping sounds as well as more familiar sounds. According to their own history, which they preserve through oral tradition, the Hadza have lived in their current environment bordering the Serengeti plains since their first days as a unique group. This is relatively close to the spot where Homo habilis, one of the earliest hominids, lived 1.9 million years ago. Genetically, the Hadza show one of the oldest lineages of contemporary humans.
Contemporary settlements and farming practices currently threaten the lifestyle of the Hadza. They have lost between 75 percent and 90 percent of their land over the past 50 years.
In the Yaeda Valley of Tanzania, women and children set out to collect tubers, a staple food of the Hadza people.
Photograph by Matthieu Paley
deserted.
person who studies cultures and characteristics of communities and civilizations.
having to do with the present time period.
to tame or adapt for human use.
able to be eaten and digested.
to search for food or other needs.
having to do with genes, inherited characteristics or heredity.
a person's native country or region.
(2.5-1.5 million years ago) species of primates (hominid) whose fossils and stone tools have been found in Africa.
condition of being human, including the study of art, literature, philosophy, and the sciences.
person who gets food by using a combination of hunting, fishing, and foraging.
to blend or bring together.
set of sounds, gestures, or symbols that allows people to communicate.
way of living, including cultural, economic, and social habits.
animals raised for sale and profit.
something that is owned.
community or village.
large community, linked through similarities or relationships.
ability to live.
not lasting or permanent.
to scare or be a source of danger.
community made of one or several family groups sharing a common culture.
one of a kind.
depression in the Earth between hills.