horticultural society

Horticultural societies are a type of primitive culture that practices agriculture in a manner similar to simple gardening, supplementing hunting and gathering. Unlike farming, horticulture uses less advanced technology, often in forests where soil is easily worked with a stick. These societies typically do not use intensive fertilization or crop rotation, resulting in lower productivity compared to agricultural societies.

Villages in horticultural societies are small, and population density is low. They often practice "slash-and-burn" or "swidden cultivation," where plots are cropped for about two years and then left fallow to revert to secondary forest. This system requires them to gradually move to new land, sometimes leading to semi-sedentary villages. Due to competition for land, these societies can be prone to conflict and raids. While they generally have more material goods than hunter-gatherers, this is often linked to their more stable settlements rather than higher productivity.1