Just for fun, I put together some figures to get a feeling for aboriginal output, using a Northeast U.S. native, my local Safeway and the Cabela's catalog.
Daily figures:
One third pound cleaned meat at $4.99 a pound 1 cleaned trout at $2.99 1 pint berries at $2.49 one pound acorns or starch equivalent at $1.00 a pound
Yearly figures: One suit clothes - compare to Wall's uninsulated camouflage hunting coverall at 49.95
One pair shoes - compare to Cabela's Woodsman leather hunting boots at 59.95, consumed over three winter seasons: $19.98
One woven wigwam - compare to Cabela's 8-person Alaskan Guide Series tent w/ fiberglass poles at 409.99
Non-food-producing tools, consumed in use - compare to Leatherman Supertool 200 at 54.99 plus Cold Steel heavy machete at 9.99, consumed over five years: $13.00
Net contemporary value in 1870 of a native art collection priced today at $35,000, based on 5% rate of appreciation: $62
Remember the value of hunting and fishing tools are included in the value of their product. I think these figures are generous by any standard. I get a total yearly figure of approximately $3,521.17 but you have to lower average life expectancy to 35 or 40 and yes, you do. The idea that hunter-gatherers are healthy people is silly. First, all hunter-gatherers are subject to parasitic infections. Second, consider the fact that all predators (human or no) are subject to both high infant mortality and episodes of population decline due to starvation. Drought, for example, kills hunter-gatherers just as easily as it kills farmers - more easily since hunter-gatherers do not have the power to turn their food production to foodstuffs that can be saved to make it through lean times. That's why people raise grain staples in the first place.
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