[whymememe]

I mostly agree, but the whole worked only 15 hours a week stat is almost certainly not correct. It came from a paper that only counted time outside of camp as work, so time spent in camp processing food wasn't counted. The actual number of hours varies massively - seasonally and geographically - but probably closer to 30-40.

[prawn]

I'd bet that a lot of that in-camp work didn't feel excessively laborious when it was done while socialising within your group, and without a sense of "wish I was playing video games". Sitting around a camp fire now whittling away at something is more mucking around than chore.

[mcv]

Exactly. I don't think there really was a clear separation between work and not-work back then. It's just life. Consider wild animals: do they work?

[whymememe]

Yeah pretty much, it’s a pretty tough to pinpoint what work actually is without paid labour.

[thfuran]

Sure sitting around a campfire and whittling away at something now feels more like mucking about than chore, because it is. You don’t actually need whatever it is you’re whittling. It would probably be less relaxing if your survival depended on your handiwork.

[IAmBroom]

I have friends who handweave clothes, blacksmith tools, and of course garden for food for their families.

The stakes are lower, but not the work level required, and they all do it for funzies, essentially.