Introduction to section III. Old world hunters and gatherers: some critical considerations

Food acquisition in early phases of the development of human being is essentially based on predation. Scavenging, hunting, fishing and gathering are characteristic for these periods. Problem of estimation of vegetal food is evoked. The use of isotopic analysis may be a good help in this approach. For the faunal remains, some considerations are made about the difficulties
of quantification methods, definition of an archaeological occupation, partial recovery, etc. The study of scavenging, hunting and gathering are yet today controversial and testify of our feeble knowledge in this area.