Pastoralism (Other Keyword)
51-75 (122 Records)
This is an abstract from the "Exploring Long-Term Pastoral Dynamics: Methods, Theories, Stories" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In recent years, ethnoarchaeological research combining archaeological evidence and traditional knowledge of reindeer herders has added considerably to our understanding of cultural meanings of various reindeer herding practices traceable through the archaeological record. One important aspect brought forward by...
Identifying Animal Management Practices Using Oxygen Isotopes in Neolithic Croatia (2018)
Transhumance is a typical Mediterranean adaptation for securing adequate forage and water for domesticates by seasonally bringing animals to new pasture. However the antiquity of this adaptation is unclear. We present new oxygen isotope data from the Dalmatian coast, Croatia, to test the hypothesis that Neolithic herds were seasonally transhumant. Incremental sampling of ancient animal teeth produced data that are compared with modern isotope data of water showing altitudinal variation to assess...
The Influence of Pastoral Cultivation Strategies and Novel Cuisines on Newly Introduced Crops in Central Asia during the Bronze and Iron Ages (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. When crops are spread into new landscapes, communities, and their associated subsistence practices and culinary preferences, the crops undergo substantial selective pressure. This pressure can come in the form of new environmental constraints, such as a different growing season, or cultural pressure from differences in preferred taste, productivity, or...
Investigating Camelid Herding Strategies in the South-Central Andes Using Stable Isotope Analysis (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Pastoral practices shape the responses of herders to environmental and sociopolitical changes. This paper uses stable isotope analysis to examine camelid herding strategies from pastoral settlements in the south-central Andes during a period characterized by climatic and political changes (8th-15th century CE). Samples from archaeological sites in Peru and...
Is the Anthropocene a Beastly Problem? Thoughts on Human-Animal Relationships and Contemporary Narratives of Change (2017)
Pizzly bears and coywolves have been making headlines over the past few years. Offspring of illicit pairings between species of charismatic and aggressive megafauna, these hybrid monsters are presented as signs and portents of a troubled future. This paper explores the relationship between contemporary discourses about unruly and uncanny hybrid species and academic efforts to define and engage with the Anthropocene. It questions the relationships between tacit understandings of the animal as a...
Isotopes and Texts: Animal Management Strategies in Ancient Greece (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Integrating Isotope Analyses: The State of Play and Future Directions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Integrating textual sources, a largely qualitative dataset, with archaeological science, a largely quantitative dataset, is no easy task for archaeologists and historians. This paper reflects on the challenges and opportunities of integrating the textual and biochemical evidence for animal management in the ancient...
Kinship and Cattle in Harappan Gujarat (2018)
Pastoralism, the production and management of livestock, was integral to the lifeways practiced by the peoples of the Indus Civilization (2600-1900 BC), South Asia’s first experiment with urban society. The integration of Gujarat (India) into the interregional flows of people, goods, and ideas that knit together the Indus Civilization, for example, is associated with the widespread adoption of pastoralism in a region that was formerly characterized by small-scale horticulturalist-hunting...
Late Bronze Age women of the steppe frontier: a bioarchaeological analysis of multiple sites in northern China (2017)
The late Bronze Age in the Inner Asian steppe was a transitional period, with the adoption of mobile herding, as well as increasing sociopolitical interaction and complexity among groups in this region. Although archaeological studies have indicated that many steppe groups engaged in a variety of subsistence practices, pastoralism in general has been characterized as a rather uniform lifestyle; and nomadic pastoralism in particular has been associated more often with the role of males, i.e., as...
Late Holocene occupations at the Pinnacle Point Shell Midden Complex (2015)
Surveys identified a series of Holocene Later Stone Age shell middens along the westernmost extent of the Pinnacle Point estate near Mossel Bay, Western Cape, South Africa. Excavations during 2006 and 2007 revealed a well-preserved record of human activity ranging from 3000 ± 75 BP to 890 ± 30 BP across six spatially and temporally distinct shell middens. Dubbed Areas 1 - 4 of the Pinnacle Point Shell Midden Complex (PPSMC), each midden presents a picture of human subsistence patterns that...
Late Holocene Pastoralism and Environmental Change in the Puna Highlands of South America: Stable Isotope Analysis of Camelids Bones and Teeth (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The goal of this work is to study llama herding in the Puna Highlands of Atacama during the final period of the Late Holocene (700 years BP to present day), focusing on the link between mobility and climate change. South American camelids are the only large mammals that were domesticated in the Americas and llamas have been an important resource for Andean...
Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Agro-Pastoral Diets at Shimao, Northern Shaanxi Province, China: Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Analysis of Human and Faunal Remains (2018)
The late Neolithic to early Bronze Age period (ca. 2800 BC–1900 BC) in the Ordos Region, Northern China was a transitional period, that included the adoption of agro-pastoralism, as well as increasing sociopolitical complexity. Subsistence economies were shaped by a variety of strategies that included a mixed agro- pastoral system focused on millet cultivation and herding of caprines and cattle, with limited contributions from hunting and gathering of wild plants. Here in this study we report...
Life on the "Periphery": Pastoralism at Atalla (2017)
Atalla, located in the South Central Andes of Peru in the province of Huancavelica, boasts a monumental temple and expansive, multi-phase domestic areas. Occupation of the site intermittently spans approximately 3000 years, and human presence in the surrounding area likely predates this site. Recent excavations focusing on both the monumental and domestic sectors of the site have yielded faunal remains from nearly all contexts. Here, I present an analysis of the faunal remains and bone tools...
Local and Regional Economics in Northeast China (2015)
Food production and other forms of economic activity manifest at both local and regional scales. In some instances population density within one community may lead to stress at the local scale. The region can, however, mitigate local stresses through regional exchange between small polities. In the same way that household exchange mitigates the risk of a single community, inter-community exchange mitigates risk for many communities regionally. This paper will explore both regional and local...
Local Responses to Global Events: Regionally Distinct Dietary Changes among Eastern African Herders at the Close of the African Humid Period (2018)
Changing human diets in eastern Africa across the end of the African Humid Period (AHP) have been inferred indirectly from cultural and faunal remains at archaeological sites. Stable isotope analysis (SIA, specifically δ13C) can measure diets directly, yet few studies have conducted SIA on human remains from this region. We present 25 new δ13C values from human tooth enamel recovered from archaeological sites around Lake Turkana (northwest Kenya) and on Lukenya Hill and Rigo Cave (southern...
Long-Term Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Sámi Reindeer Husbandry on the Northern Shore of Europe (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Exploring Long-Term Pastoral Dynamics: Methods, Theories, Stories" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Reindeer hunting, reindeer husbandry, and nomadic pastoralism form a significant part of the history of Sápmi, and the whole northern Fennoscandia from the late Iron Age to modern times. Sápmi, situated on the northern shore of Europe, is the transnational homeland of Sámi people, Europe’s only indigenous group. Recent...
Los camélidos en el Ecuador: Estudio arqueo faunístico y etnográfico (2024)
This is an abstract from the "The Barbacoan World: Recognizing and Preserving the Unique Indigenous Cultural Developments of the Northern Andes" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. El tema zooarqueológico en el Ecuador sobre los camélidos es muy escaso especialmente en la región, solo algunos sitios reportan dicha especie, especialmente en la Sierra Norte, donde su presencia no es significativa, se presenta como un elemento especial o escaso. Nuestra...
The Making of Agro-pastoral Landscape of the Tibetan Plateau: A Zooarchaeological Perspective (2018)
The vertical ingredient of the Tibetan Plateau plays a unique role in making of the highland agro-pastoral landscape. We divide the Tibetan Plateau into three eco-altitudinal zones: areas below 3,000 m.a.s.l.; areas between 3,000 and 4,200 m.a.s.l.; and areas above 4,200 m.a.s.l. Today, pastoralists and farmers utilize different faunal and floral taxa in the three zones, partly as risk aversion strategies. In this paper, I review the zooarchaeological evidence dated between 6,000 and 1,000 BP...
Material Wealth and Herding Power: A Pastoralist Perspective on Divine Lordship from Pashash, Peru (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Ancient Pastoralism in a Global Perspective" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Fluctuating political allegiances during the Early Intermediate period (200 BCE–600 CE) were coopted by competing leaders throughout the central Peruvian highlands and more broadly in the south-central Andes. The relationships and conflicts that resulted from socioeconomic negotiations among local networks; alongside the vacuum of power left...
Migrations and Exchange: Early Pastoral Mobility in Kenya Assessed Through Stable Isotope Analysis (2015)
Specialized pastoralism emerged in Kenya around 3000 years ago and has adapted with changes in the social and ecological landscape to this day. Ethnographic research has documented significant changes in herding strategies among pastoral groups throughout colonial and post-colonial periods. Stable isotope analysis sheds light on how crucial mobility was in maintaining herds before the appearance of iron-using and –producing peoples in the region. Intra-tooth sequential sampling of livestock...
Millennium and Charisma Among Pathans: a Critical Essay in Social Anthropology (1976)
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The (Missing) Archaeology of the Early Medieval Nomads (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Mind the Gap: Exploring Uncharted Territories in Medieval European Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The goal of this paper is to take a fresh, critical look at the work done on medieval nomads, especially in Eastern Europe, over the last three decades or so. It will focus on three crucial aspects. First, the relation between pastoralism (a separate problem for medieval archaeology) and nomadism, and the...
Missions, Herds, and Habitat: Analyzing Livestock Dynamics in the Desert Pimería Alta (2024)
This is an abstract from the "The Columbian Exchange Revisited: Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives on Eurasian Domesticates in the Americas" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Columbian Exchange reshaped ecosystems and societies across the Western Hemisphere, and the Pimería Alta (today Sonora and Arizona) was no exception. The establishment of Spanish colonial missions in the Pimería Alta region beginning in 1687 marked a pivotal...
A Model for Mobility in the Irish Iron Age (2019)
This is an abstract from the "On the Periphery or the Leading Edge? Research in Prehistoric Ireland" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Irish Iron Age (~700 BC – AD 500) has been a point of consternation for archaeologists, with large ceremonial centers but scanty settlement evidence. While, during this period, more densely populated and proto-urban settlements emerged in Britain and the European Continent, settlements in Ireland diminished in...
Neolithic Pastoralist Practices at Masis Blur, Armenia’s Ararat Valley (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Ancient Pastoralism in a Global Perspective" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Neolithic settlements appeared across the Southern Caucasus in the early sixth millennium BCE. Ongoing excavations, along with zooarchaeological and isotopic research, are clarifying how these communities used the landscape and managed livestock in the context of mixed farming. In this paper we present new zooarchaeological data from recent...
Nomadic Cities and Network Modularity: Scalar Analysis in Ancient Urbanism and Social Connectivity (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Regional Settlement Networks Analysis: A Global Comparison" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The discovery of small to mid-sized cities (Tashbulak and Tugunbulak) built by the Qarakhanids (ninth–twelfth century CE) at high elevation illustrates that urban centers used by nomadic khanates may have operated under a unique model of “modular” urbanism, which we define as a hybridized form of urban development and nomadic...