> well a certain grouping of aborigines in a specific location at a given time
 > of year. its a pretty limited snapshot.

Very good point.  In a famous paper by Sahlins (sorry no reference handy)
called "The original affluent society" (I think) he pointed out what a great
life the Aborigines had in Arnhem Land but IIRC he was there at the best
time of year.  I think a later paper by another author (maybe Altman?)
called "The original affluent society hypothesis revisited? he points out
that at other times of year life was quite hard.  I think Thomson
(australian anthropologist) pointed out in the 30's(?) that if you looked at
these people at different times of the year you would think you were looking
at two distinct, unrelated groups of people because the lifestyle change was
so dramatic.

Sean