This chapter discusses bands of hunter-gatherer as the simplest form of human society. Simple societies are introduced as subsistence economies, based on hunting and gathering, which produce no notable surpluses. This mode of production imposes limits on the group size, requires mobility and allows only for few personal possessions. Thus, hunter-gatherers live in small relatively egalitarian communities, which are held together by kinship bonds. In terms of classification, the chapter discusses the spatial distinction between the inside and the outside, especially between in-group members and outsiders. It also introduces the evaluative distinctions between the pure and the impure as well as between the sacred and the profane, which play an important role in all human societies. Circulation in simple societies takes place through marriage (i.e., allowing persons to cross the boundary between one family to another) and through gift-exchange. Relics, icons and ritual performances are discussed as the dominant forms of representation in simple societies.