Evolution of Human Bands

What might have been the number of members in the earliest human bands? 

Human bands - small nomadic , egalitarian group of 30 to 50 people related by kinship are considered the primary social structure for most of the human history. Egalitarian means the members were of equal rights.  This may not be true to the word. The strongest male might have dominated the entire group. Children, followed by women might have experienced the greatest disability.  Since the group might not have engaged in wealth creation competition was limited to division of hunted meat or gathered fruits and nuts. Still the alf male must have dominated the band.

Evolving over millions of years, these groups were defined by shared foraging, co-operative subsistence, and informal leadership. Foraging is the act of searching for, identifying, harvesting wild food sources from nature. It requires careful identification to avoid toxic lookalikes and awareness of contamination.

Key Stages In The Evolution of Human Bands 

Early ancestors like hominids likely lived in small groups to compete and dominate a given territory.  Fertility exceeded mortality because of natural factors. Other than forage and hunting pastime was limited to gossip.  Starvation was the order of the day. Dominant member had a priority in access to food. And he was the last to die in times of scarcity and famine, caused by drought or flood.

With the passage of time, those bands who acquired the art of tool making dominated over others.

Paleolithic foragers 

The band structure was firmly established by the Paleolithic era, with the bands moving frequently and maintaining informal social structure based on personal skills.

By Middle Paleolithic period bands were merged into tribes absorbing clans headed by a chief, and the structure being stratified.

The Transition out of Bands

With the advent agriculture followed by food storage, a settled life was possible leading to formation formation of villages and towns.