Final answer:
Humans who lived by hunting and gathering are known as hunter-gatherers, a way of life practiced for most of human evolutionary history by our ancestors and still maintained by some groups like the San people of the Kalahari and the Hadza of Tanzania.
Step-by-step explanation:
The humans who lived by hunting and gathering before the advent of agriculture are commonly referred to as hunter-gatherers. This lifestyle was the norm for our ancestors for approximately 95 percent of human evolutionary history, spanning over two million years. Hunter-gatherers survived by foraging for fruits, nuts, berries, and roots, hunting wild animals, and fishing. They roamed from place to place, forming small groups that settled temporarily where resources were plentiful, but moved on when supplies diminished. Some modern-day groups, like the Pygmies in Central Africa, the San people of the Kalahari, and the Hadza of Tanzania, continue this ancestral way of life.
Despite being vastly outnumbered by settled agricultural societies, the contemporary hunter-gatherer communities provide us with a glimpse into the past and a potential model for sustainable living. They also challenge the romanticized notions that modern people may have regarding a gathering-hunting lifestyle, such as those behind the paleolithic diet or the ideologies of anarcho-primitivists.