Is it possible to survive on a vegetarian diet primitively?

[Torjus Gaaren]

Thinking about it I see a couple of potential questionmarks:

• Animals gather the food for you, some of the species spend pretty much all day foraging. Could humans do the same?
• Could you get sufficiently of the essential vitamin B12?

[sam_acw]

Sounds like a very tough proposition.
You could still use animals to gather for you - raiding squirrel caches and the like. You would have to be an expert at finding foods though and would probably drift into an early agricultural situation. I expect that there would be more benefit in caring for food resources and trying to improve their growing conditions in this situation.
Another factor to consider would be the lack of other animal materials - furs, skins, sinews etc. That would surely be a major handicap.
A quick search makes it look that vitamin B12 is pretty hard to come by outside of manufactured foods for a vegetarian.

[Torjus Gaaren]

I was a little unclear on the statement where I mentioned animals foraging for you. I meant that they forage to build their bodies, packing them with energy, which we in turn can consume.

[sam_acw]

It was clear - I just looked at it differently as another way of saving energy output.

[Torjus Gaaren]

I know that Inuits sometimes raided mice nests for grains and other goodies. It's worth considering though.

[Fenlander]

Have you read "Food and emergency food in the circumpolar area" by Kerstin Eidlitz?

It's a really good read and great source of information.