Final answer:
Wealth is a burden for hunter-gatherers because their lifestyle requires mobility and any accumulation of goods makes it harder to move. Their egalitarian societies also value sharing and look down upon hoarding resources.
Step-by-step explanation:
Wealth can be considered a burden for hunter-gatherers for several reasons. The hunter-gatherer lifestyle fundamentally requires mobility, and accumulating wealth in the form of material possessions is impractical because it hinders their ability to move easily.
The egalitarian nature of hunter-gatherer societies also discourages the accumulation of goods beyond what can be easily shared and used within the group. Generosity is highly valued, and any form of greed is looked down upon with gossip and criticism. In instances such as the societies along the Pacific Northwest coast, the ability to accumulate wealth led to social differentiation and a hierarchy that was atypical of most hunter-gatherer communities.
In contrast, agricultural societies facilitated wealth accumulation and social hierarchies due to the need for labor specialization and the ability to produce surplus food, which could be traded for other goods or services, enabling some individuals to become artisans or traders.