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JoshuaZ comments on Forager Anthropology - Less Wrong
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There's a deep problem in general with using modern hunter-gatherer or forager societies to get data about historic human societies. These societies live in the margins, often in isolation in land that was not taken by other humans. Thus, they are likely to live in areas with different resource availibility constraints and less trading than historical human groups. This problem impacts both what you call the standard narrative and your alternative.
Good point. I hadn't considered that there are strong effects determining which hunter-gatherer societies survived to get surveyed by anthropologists. I'll have to adjust my estimation of the significance of this evidence downwards; I wish I could see a way to do better.
The label "hunter-gatherer" is also a problem. The variety of hunter-gatherer societies may be as great as the variety of agricultural or herder societies. The technology levels of hunter-gatherer societies can differ widely.
Especially when the groups you talk about aren't even H-G's.
This is a field with a strong statistical tradition. Count the calories. And keep in mind that most band and tribes will claim to be hunters just because they think it is high status.