Pastoralism (Archaeology)

The independent and synergic impacts of climatic change and capitalist expansion may render pastoral socialecological systems extinct. Climatic change compromises rangelands, while economic development fosters conversion of pastoral land into territories for capitalist expansion. Pastoralists' institutions regulate decisionmaking to socio-environmental change and shape adaptive responses, enabling mobile livestock rearing for using multiple grazing areas, and households' diverse income sources. These institutions are characterized by flexibility, such as mixed individual-collective water and land tenure regimes. However, capitalist-led reduction of land-based resources, the push for privatization and commodification of land and livestock hinder flexibility, and undermine pastoralists' institutions for decision-making; ultimately creating challenges for pastoralists' adaptive capacity. Research on the compound effects of the expanding global economy and climate change on pastoral social-ecological systems is needed to inform efforts constraining unregulated capitalist expansion, and policies for water and land security. Research, practice, and policies will improve pastoral social-ecological systems adaptability and resilience.

Zusammenfassung: Von 2007 bis 2016 untersuchte ein interdisziplinäres Projekt im Unterengadin (Graubünden, Schweiz) die alpine Weidewirtschaft. Im Fimbertal/Val Fenga wurden in über 2000 m Höhe spätbronzezeitliche bzw. hallstattzeitliche Baustrukturen entdeckt, die in Verbindung mit zeitgleichen Talsiedlungen um Ramosch als Nachweis für eigentliche Alpwirtschaft in prähistori-scher Zeit interpretiert werden. Um diese idealtypische Kombination eines gestuften Tal-Alp-Systems und die gesamtwirtschaftliche Bedeutung der Viehwirtschaft besser zu verstehen, wurde eine GIS-gestützte Szenario-evaluation der prähistorischen Landschaftsnutzung ausgeführt. Da zur Größe und Struktur der Siedlungen keine ausreichenden Daten vorhanden sind, wurde eine theoretische Berechnung der maximalen Bevölkerungs- bzw. Vieh-/Herdenzahl angestrebt. Die Basis dazu bildet ein komplexes Subsistenzmodell, das aus der archäologischen, physiologischen und landwirtschaftlichen Fachliteratur ausgearbeitet wurde und den Flächenbedarf von Ackerbau und Viehzucht berücksichtigt. Anhand separat modellierter landwirtschaftlicher Nutzungsflächen im Einzugsgebiet (site catchment) der jeweiligen Siedlung lässt sich so die maximale Tragkraft (carrying capacity) bzw. Bevölkerungszahl ermitteln. Die alpine Topografie wird dabei als landwirtschaftlich stark limitierender Faktor betrachtet, sodass eine wachsende Siedlung bzw. Bevölkerung dazu gezwungen wäre, das Vieh im Sommer auf weiter entfernte Hochweiden auszulagern. Aus den Modellen kann allerdings kein ökonomischer oder ökologischer Druck als primärer Grund für die Ausformung der Alpwirtschaft belegt werden. Es wäre in den Talsiedlungen möglich, Ackerbau und Viehwirtschaft für bis zu 200 Personen ganzjährig in unmittelbarer Siedlungsnähe zu bewerkstelligen. Die saisonale vertikale Mobilität muss daher aus anderen Gründen eingeführt worden sein, möglicherweise für die strategische Mehrproduktion landwirtschaftlicher Erzeugnisse für den inner- und transalpinen Gütertausch.

Schlüsselworte: Alpen; Landschaftsarchäologie; Vieh-wirtschaft; Alpwirtschaft; Subsistenzmodell; GIS; Tragfä-higkeit; Mehrproduktion; Bronzezeit; Eisenzeit.

Abstract: Between 2007 and 2016 an interdisciplinary project explored the Alpine pastoral economy in the Lower Engadine region (Grisons, Switzerland). Late Bronze Age or Hallstatt-period structures were discov-ered at 2000  m a.s.  l. in the Fimbertal/Val Fenga valley and were, in association with contemporary settlements in the valley around Ramosch, interpreted as evidence of an actual Alpine pastoral economy in prehistoric times. To gain a better understanding of such an ideal combination of a tiered Alp-valley system on one hand and the overall economic significance of livestock farming on the other, a GIS-based scenario evaluation of prehistoric land use was carried out. Since the data available on the size and structure of the settlement is not sufficiently large, the aim was to achieve a theoretical calculation of the maximum number of people and livestock. This calculation was based on a complex subsistence model which was devel-oped from archaeological, physiological and agricul-tural specialist literature and took into account the area required for crop cultivation and animal husbandry. Based on separately modelled areas of farmland within each site catchment, this allowed us to calculate the maximum car-rying capacity or population sizes. The Alpine topography was seen as a severely limiting factor with regard to agri-cultural output, which would mean that an expanding settlement or population group would be forced to move their livestock to higher pastures further afield during the summer months. The models, however, have not allowed us to state that economic or ecological pressure was the primary reason for the evolution of an Alpine pastoral economy. It would have been possible by means of crop cultivation and animal husbandry to sustain a population of up to 200 people living in or around each valley set-tlement all year round. Seasonal vertical mobility must therefore have been established for other reasons, possi-bly in order to increase the output of agricultural produce for exchange within and beyond the Alpine region.

Keywords: Alps; landscape archaeology; livestock farming; pastoral economy; subsistence model; GIS; car-rying capacity; produce of exchange; Bronze Age; Iron Age.

Résumé: De 2007 à 2016, un projet interdisciplinaire pour la Basse Engadine (canton des Grisons, Suisse) s’est consacré à l’économie pastorale en milieu alpin. A plus de 2000  m d’altitude, dans la vallée du Fimber/Val Fenga, on a découvert des structures d’habitat datant du Bronze final et de l’époque de Hallstatt. Elles peuvent être corré-lées avec certaines occupations contemporaines de fond de vallée s’articulant autour de Ramosch, et témoignent d’une véritable économie alpestre à l’époque préhisto-rique. Pour mieux comprendre un système qui correspond à une combinaison idéale entre vallée et alpages, de même que pour cerner l’importance économique de l’élevage, on a effectué une évaluation de différents scénarios d’ex-ploitation du paysage à l’époque préhistorique, basée sur les SIG. Comme on ne dispose pas de données suffisantes concernant les dimensions et la structuration des habi-tats, on a procédé au calcul de la population théorique maximale, répétant l’exercice pour le nombre d’animaux ou de troupeaux. A cette fin, on a eu recours à un modèle de subsistance complexe, mis en place grâce aux données fournies par la littérature spécialisée et tenant compte de données archéologiques, physiologiques et agricoles, sans oublier les surfaces nécessaires à l’agriculture et à l’élevage. Sur la base des zones d’exploitation agricole régionales, modélisées individuellement (site catchment) pour chacun des sites, on peut établir quels étaient la charge maximale (carrying capacity) et le nombre d’habi-tants. Dans ce modèle, la topographie du milieu alpin est considérée comme un facteur particulièrement contrai-gnant pour l’agriculture, impliquant que la croissance d’un village ou de sa population devait déboucher sur le déplacement du bétail durant l’été vers des pâturages d’al-titude éloignés. Ces modèles ne permettent toutefois pas d’établir la présence d’une pression économique ou écolo-gique qui aurait été la cause majeure de la mise en place d’une économie alpestre. Dans les habitats de vallée, il était possible de subvenir, grâce à l’agriculture et à l’éle-vage, aux besoins d’une communauté comptant jusqu’à 200 personnes, durant toute l’année et à proximité immé-diate des villages. La mobilité saisonnière, avec des dépla-cements en altitude, relève donc d’autres intentions, peut-être une surproduction stratégique de produits agricoles, destinée à l’échange de biens intra-alpin et transalpin.

Mots-clés: Alpes; archéologie du paysage; économie agro-pastorale; exploitation des alpages; modèle de sub-sistance; SIG; carrying capacity; surproduction; âge du Bronze; âge du Fer.

Roman Gordion, on the Anatolian plateau, is the only excavated rural military settlement in a pacified territory in the Roman East, providing a unique opportunity to investigate the agricultural economy of a permanent Roman garrison. We present combined results of archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological analyses, assessing several hypotheses regarding Roman military provisioning. The garrison adapted its dietary preferences to local agricultural systems, but maintained its traditional meat supply of pork, beef, and chickens as well. There is evidence for economic interdependence with local farmers and cattle herders, self- sufficiency in pork and chicken production, and complex relationships with autonomous sheep and goat herders who pursued their own economic goals. If the Roman military in Gordion exercised a command economy, they were able to implement that control only on specific components of the agricultural sector, especially cereal farming. The sheep and goat herding system remained unaltered, targeting secondary products for a market economy and/or broader provincial taxation authorities. The garrison introduced new elements to the animal economy of the Gordion region, including a new pig husbandry system. Comparison with contemporary non-military settlements suggests both similarities and differences with urban meat economies of Roman Anatolia.

The paper presents reading of the description of Cyclopes from Odyssey 9 as an ethnographic text. It addresses the relationship between “ethnographic” account of Cyclopes and archaeological record of pastoral groups from east Adriatic coast and Dinarides.

During the Early Bronze Age, populations of the western Eurasian steppe expanded across an immense area of northern Eurasia. Combined archaeological and genetic evidence supports widespread Early Bronze Age population movements out of the Pontic–Caspian steppe that resulted in gene flow across vast distances, linking populations of Yamnaya pastoralists in Scandinavia with pastoral populations (known as the Afanasievo) far to the east in the Altai Mountains1,2 and Mongolia3. Although some models hold that this expansion was the outcome of a newly mobile pastoral economy characterized by horse traction, bulk wagon transport4,5,6 and regular dietary dependence on meat and milk5, hard evidence for these economic features has not been found. Here we draw on proteomic analysis of dental calculus from individuals from the western Eurasian steppe to demonstrate a major transition in dairying at the start of the Bronze Age. The rapid onset of ubiquitous dairying at a point in time when stepp...

The open grassy plains are one of the most characteristic landscapes of Melbourne's Western Region. Their appearance has changed little from before European settlement. Bare flat ground, punctuated by low volcanic hills which were the volcanoes from which lava spread out to form undulating plains sloping almost imperceptibly from the foot of the Brisbane Ranges and Wombat Forest down to Port Phillip Bay.

It is this region, and specifically the evidence of the first non Aboriginal settlement of the district - the pastoral estates, which is the subject of this study. With the assistance of a National Estate Grant, Melbourne's Living Museum of the West, carried out a study of the history of pastoral estates in Melbourne's Western Region during 1992-3, as part of a continuing program of documenting, researching and presenting the history, culture and environment of the region.

The study builds on earlier work in the area, including oral history interviews, documentary research and physical surveys, looking at the way of life of the people of the pastoral land west of Melbourne. Such studies include interviews with ex-tenants of the Werribee Park Estate, research into the history of the early squatting families, studies of rural landscapes, including bluestone buildings and dry stone walls, and a constant co-operations with members of the local historical societies in finding out more about the early settlers of the region.

An archaeological survey of land on Melbourne's western suburban fringe found a number of historical and Aboriginal sites, particularly along Kororoit Creek, including foundations from an early pastoral estate - possibly James Pinkerton's 'Chamois Ponds' run dating from about 1842.

Le phénomène des animaux favoris, propre à l'Afrique de l'Est, est ici étudié chez les Hamar, un des groupes du Sud-Omo en Éthiopie. Plusieurs des pratiques qui lui sont associées, comme la déformation des cornes et la découpe des oreilles et du fanon, permettent de porter un nouveau regard sur certaines images rupestres saharienne

For several centuries, well before the truck network unites the different rural communities of the Andes to the big fairs or to the cities and their markets, the barter trips with llamas were of extreme importance for the shepherds and their families. They allowed them to obtain products from other regions that they needed to survive. In colonial times, innumerable camel caravans also transported the ore produced in the silver mines of the imperial city of Potosí or other mining centers and all the goods indispensable to their development and maintenance. Numerous archaeological evidences attest to the existence of these ancient circuits of exchange and caravans of camelids, particularly through the desert regions of northern Chile or southern Bolivia. But very often, it is difficult to interpret these data without the use of more recent ethnographic evidence. Therefore, this work proposes to elaborate a brief historical evaluation of the importance of llama caravans in the Bolivian Andes, based on cross-references from historical, archaeological and ethnographic data.
Résumen
Varios siglos antes que la red camionera uniera las diferentes comunidades rurales de los Andes a las grandes ferias o a las ciudades y a sus mercados, los viajes de trueque con recuas de llamas eran de extrema importancia para los ganaderos y sus familias. Les permitían adquirir los productos de consumo de otras regiones que necesitaban para sobrevivir. En la época colonial, innumerables caravanas de camélidos transportaban también el mineral producido en las minas de plata de la ciudad imperial de Potosí u otros centros mineros y los productos indispensables para su desarrollo y mantenimiento. Numerosas evidencias arqueológicas atestiguan la existencia de estos antiguos circuitos de trueque y caravanas de camélidos, particularmente a través de las regiones desérticas del norte de Chile o sur de Bolivia. Pero muy a menudo, resulta difícil interpretar estos datos sin el uso de evidencia etnográfica más reciente. Por lo tanto, este trabajo propone elaborar una breve evaluación histórica de la importancia de las caravanas de llamas en los Andes bolivianos, a partir de las referencias cruzadas provenientes de datos históricos, arqueológicos y etnográficos.

The historiography on Ancient North Africa has been widely marked by the experience of the modern colonialism and the subsequent process of decolonization. All that resulted in a polarized view of the history of the ancient Maghreb and in the constant use of binary oppositions in the study of ancient realities. This paper, in particular, studies the construction and uses of the opposition between “nomad” and “sedentarist”, “pastoralist” and “agriculturalist” in the colonial and postcolonial historiographies on the Maghreb. In addition, it shows how recent archaeological works have stimulated new perspectives of investigation on the history of pastoralism in ancient North Africa.

The paper presents the interdisciplinary approach developed for the TraTTo project (acronym of Transhumance and Territory in Toscana) related to the study of transhumance's paths and pastures in Southern Tuscany in a long-term perspective, from prehistory to modern times. The project is carried on by a research group of the Department of History and Cultural Heritage of the University of Siena in collaboration with the École Française of Rome. The TraTTo project is dedicated to analysing features of Tuscan transhumance through a landscape archaeology perspective and using a strong GIS structure for analyses and data-gathering based on historical, survey and archive researches.

This chapter surveys the early domestication of camelids,
the precursor event to the studies in this volume
dealing with llamas and alpacas. Domesticated
camelids were central to the expansive complex societies
of South America. Beyond South America, camelids are a
key example for understanding the importance of specific
variables in animal domestication and pastoralism.
Camelid domestication has been extensively researched
and reviewed (Bonavia 2008; Gilmore 1950; Mengoni
Gonalons and Yacobaccio 2006; Stahl 2008; Wheeler 1999;
Yacobaccio 2007). Even so, a comprehensive picture seems
elusive. I still get asked by colleagues what the "answer" is
to the question of the origins of llamas and alpacas. The
detailed zooarchaeological record of camelid domestication
from central Peru does not resemble the abundant
archaeological record of the south-central Andes. This
chapter emphasizes recent contributions to the study of
camelid domestication from three angles: an increasingly
detailed and comparable zooarchaeological record, new
data from the genetics of living and prehistoric camelids,
and new understanding of living wild and domesticated
camelids. The behavioral and biological data come from
programs for managing wild camelids for sustainable harvest
of their wool and from the recent global popularity of
llamas and alpacas as specialty herd animals and pets.

В статье представлены результаты изучения зооархеологической коллекции, полученной в 2020 г. в ходе разведочных работ на средневековом поселении Купчегень-1 в Онгудайском районе Республики Алтай. Основу рассмотренного комплекса составляют кости лошади, крупно-и мелкорогатого скота. Костей диких животных выявлено немного, вероятно, охота играла несущественную роль в мясном потреблении населения. Разведение мелкорогатого скота было направлено на получение мяса и шерсти, а крупнорогатого-мяса и молока. Относительно эксплуатации лошадей следует отметить, что в подавляющем большинстве для мясного потребления забивались гулевые (табунные) особи. Наличие костей как мясных, так и немясных частей туш животных свидетельствует о забое скота непосредственно на поселении, что предполагает его содержание вблизи памятника. Выявлены свидетельства придомного содержания скота, возможно, в загонах. Сопоставление полученных результатов с этнографическими наблюдениями показало близость, а в некоторых случаях полное соответствие состава стада у местных жителей XIX-первой половины XX вв. и населения, оставившего рассмотренное средневековое поселение.

Brigitte Röder, Sabine Bolliger Schreyer, Stefan Schreyer (Hg.)

Lebensweisen in der Steinzeit

Archäologie in der Schweiz

Kleinste Objekte und Reste aus lang vergangener Zeit reichen den Archäologen bereits aus, um eine Vielzahl von Erkenntnissen zur Ur- und Frühgeschichte zu liefern. Mit modernsten naturwissenschaftlichen Methoden gelangen sie zu bahnbrechenden Erkenntnissen, die bis anhin geltende Meinungen komplett revidieren. So ernährten sich die Menschen in der Altsteinzeit beispielsweise mit mehr pflanzlicher Kost als bisher angenommen. Für die Orientierung in Raum und Zeit halfen ihnen möglicherweise Steinreihen, die sie als Kalender verwendeten. Auch die Rollenverteilung funktionierte anders als vermutet: Die Bedeutung von Frauen und Kindern wurde lange unterschätzt. Über 30 Jahre nach «Fundort Schweiz» liefern 20 Expertinnen und Experten das lang erwartete neue Standardwerk zur Archäologie in der Schweiz: eine opulente, auch für Laien verständliche Geschichte der Steinzeit.

During the Early Bronze Age, populations of the western Eurasian steppe expanded across an immense area of northern Eurasia. Combined archaeological and genetic evidence supports widespread Early Bronze Age population movements out of the Pontic–Caspian steppe that resulted in gene flow across vast distances, linking populations of Yamnaya pastoralists in Scandinavia with pastoral populations (known as the Afanasievo) far to the east in the Altai Mountains1,2 and Mongolia3. Although some models hold that this expansion was the outcome of a newly mobile pastoral economy characterized by horse traction, bulk wagon transport4,5,6 and regular dietary dependence on meat and milk5, hard evidence for these economic features has not been found. Here we draw on proteomic analysis of dental calculus from individuals from the western Eurasian steppe to demonstrate a major transition in dairying at the start of the Bronze Age. The rapid onset of ubiquitous dairying at a point in time when stepp...

The most important concrete results of the excavation of tomb No. 54 include the study of tomb structure in all its details and the study of the site as a “tomb complex”, where not only satellite burials but also other subsidiary features around the main tomb are of equal importance with the tomb itself for our understanding of funerary rituals. What we have here is an exact documentation of all the features of the tomb, in order that we may appreciate the complexities of the process of its construction. Since the original Russian manuscript was finished in 2006, only selectively could the latest literature be referred to.

Andean pastoralism has long been considered a unique form of animal husbandry that is not comparable to Old World nomadic traditions. Recent archaeological research has revealed that camelid pastoralism (the herding of llamas and alpacas) evolved independently in the New World. The essays in this book explore the archaeology of pastoralist societies in Andean South America. They discuss the origins of domesticated camelids, variation in the development of pastoralist traditions, ritual and animal sacrifice, and social interaction through caravans. The multidisciplinary chapters showcase contributions from different methodologies including settlement pattern analysis, zooarchaeology and paleobotany, and ethnoarchaeology.

The scale and intensity of Navajo (Diné) sheepherding in the American
Southwest has varied substantially over the centuries. In the 150 years since the signing of the Navajo Treaty of 1868, a variety of internal and external pressures have impacted the traditional pastoral practices of Diné communities. Phase 1 of the Early Navajo Pastoral Landscape Project focused on ethnoarchaeological investigations of the history, settlement patterns, and pastoral land usage of one Navajo family in Black Mesa Chapter, Arizona, Navajo Nation. This article presents the project’s findings and discusses their implications within the context of local and regional events, as well as methodological concerns relevant to the identification of sheepherding sites across the Navajo Nation and beyond.

Modern humans have been crossing the Sahara as long ago as 300,000 BP, judged by the human skeletal remains at Jebel Irhoud in Morocco. The intermittent opening of corridors in humid periods has facilitated human transits at various period since this date. The first major horizon defining the Sahara is the Aterian, from 130,000 BP onwards. This gradually disappeared when firs the Iberomaurusian and the Capsian spread along the North African coast. The Capsian marks the transition to the Neolithic, with both ceramics and livestock. In the Central Sahara, horizons such as the Kiffian, Tenerian and Ounanian are broadly contemporaneous with the Capsian but remain foraging cultures.

Pastoralism spreads into the Central Sahara, together with dairying and a striking culture of cattle necropolises, by around 7000 BP. However, it takes nearly another 3500 years to spread to the Sahel, for reasons argued here to be ecological. The chapter discusses the different elements of the pastoral package, beginning with cattle and ovicaprines and later waves of horses, donkeys and camels. Brie consideration is given to the identification of archaeological cultures with ethnolinguistic families. Small foraging groups still live in the Sahara, and their importance for ethnographic reconstruction is highlighted.

Ubicado en el corazón de la cordillera de Vilcabamba, al límite de los departamentos de Cuzco y Apurímac, Choqek’iraw o Choque Quirao (la cuna de oro, en quechua) es uno de los sitios más emblemáticos de la
cultura inca.
De 2003 a 2006 un equipo franco-peruano—financiado por el Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores de Francia—, llevó a cabo varias excavaciones con el fin de comprender la historia de este sitio, su función y
la naturaleza de su ocupación, tratando de comprobar la veracidad de las fuentes etnohistóricas. Son los resultados de estos trabajos que se presentan en este articulo.

According to recent researches bearers of H2a1 MtDNA suddenly appeared between Araxes, Don and Volga Rivers during Chalcolithic and spread in Eurasia until Late Bronze Age during what is commonly called Indo-European Migrations. We demonstrate in this paper that this sudden and fast expansion is in fact the last step of a prior and longer ethnogenesis's process for the H2a MtDNA bearers rooted to Levantine Pastoralism for Milk that expanded before and after Late Glacial Maximum (LGM). It also demonstrates that women were a key element in the Neolithic Revolution and proposes the theory according to which their strong political position was linked to a solid oral transmission of knowledge that has been weakened by the new 'way of like' that shortened their life's expectancy due to the convergence of an increased birth rate and the apparition of new diseases (Yersinia Pestis/ Tuberculosis). Then the H2a MtDNA weak demic diffusion of Agriculture/ Pastoralism was accompanied by a strong cultural diffusion that also blurred cultural epicentres. However, this balance reversed in Lesser Caucasus during Chalcolithic, particularly in Hal (Vorotan River, Lesser Caucasus) where favourable political and geoclimatic conditions promoted this 'women's caste' specialized in domestication and dairying products (Cheese) to became major building block of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic expansions in Europe. In the aftermath of a first migration towards Balkans/ Calabria, a second expansion of H2a1 MtDNA towards the Eurasian steppe (Bronze Age) was the result of a successful political adaptation to rapid and radical political changes in Transcaucasia due to the emergence of a nomadic military/ merchant's caste specialized in equitation and warfare. In other words, both Neolithic and Chalcolithic expansions diffused the scarce H2a MtDNA and the omnipresent H2a1 MtDNA lineages who enriched a single common cultural background that reveals the whole history of populations since the Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Eneolithic.