Hunter-gatherers and the behavioural ecology of human occupation.

Background: Despite growing interest in indigenous peoples within occupational therapy in Canada and elsewhere, there has been little consideration of hunter-gathering-an occupation that retains great material and symbolic significance for many indigenous groups.

Purpose: A preliminary analysis of occupational behaviour amongst hunter-gatherers was conducted to aid understanding of the nature and evolution of human occupations and inform policy in indigenous occupational therapy.

Methods: Human behavioural ecology was used to analyze four aspects of hunter-gatherer occupations: occupational diversification, the sexual "division of labour," the long dependence of juveniles on adult provisioning, and active foraging by postmenopausal women.

Findings: It was concluded that many occupational adaptations of human foragers can be related to life-history traits, namely slow maturation, long lifespans, weaning before independent feeding, and postmenopausal longevity.

Implications: Further research will help understand how our hunter-gatherer heritage has affected the evolution of occupational behaviour and to develop program designs using foraging occupations.