Agropastoral Societies Research Articles

Hunting and the Social Lives of Southern Africa’s First Farmers

Perspectives on human–animal relationships are changing in archaeology and related disciplines. Analytical models that distinguish foraging from food production remain popular, but scholars are beginning to recognize greater variability in the ways people understood and engaged with animals in the past. In southern Africa, researchers have observed that wild animals were economically and socially important to recent agropastoral societies. However, archaeological models emphasize cattle keeping and downplay the role of hunting among past farming groups. To address this discrepancy and investigate human–wild animal interactions over the last ~ 2000 years, we examined zooarchaeological data from 54 southern African Iron Age (first and second millennium AD) farming sites. Diversity and taxonomic information highlights how often and what types of animals people hunted. Comparisons with earlier and contemporaneous forager and herder sites in southern and eastern Africa show that hunting for social and economic purposes characterized the spread of farming and rise of complex societies in southern Africa. The long-term cultural integration of wild animals into food-producing societies is unusual from a Global South perspective and warrants reappraisal of forager/farmer dichotomies in non-Western contexts.

El diseño utilitario

Given the limitations of the expediency/conservation dichotomy for understanding the lithic assemblages from the first millennium in Antofagasta de la Sierra (Catamarca, Argentina), the utilitarian design proposal constitutes progress toward understanding the specific technology of agropastoral societies. The term raised the issue that the lack of conservation-related elements poses for describing the material product of an expeditious strategy. The proposal subsequently supported efforts to estimate the work that the formative societies of Northwestern Argentina invested in lithic production. This research revisits its contributions, applying them to the knapped stone assemblage of Structure 4 (E4) at the Las Escondidas site (Quebrada de Miriguaca, Antofagasta de la Sierra) – a site occupied at the beginning of the first millennium, that shows different activities, including artisan production. Reconstructing some aspects of the technological behavior involved in the production, use and disposal of the instrument set at E4 gave rise to several reflections on the scope and applicability of the utilitarian design concept in relation to work investment.

Exploring the role of ecology and social organisation in agropastoral societies: A Bayesian network approach

The present contribution focuses on investigating the interaction of people and environment in small-scale farming societies. Our study is centred on the particular way settlement location constraints economic strategy when technology is limited, and social division of work is not fully developed. Our intention is to investigate prehistoric socioeconomic organisation when farming began in the Old World along the Levant shores of Iberian Peninsula, the Neolithic phenomenon. We approach this subject extracting relevant information from a big set of ethnographic and ethnoarchaeological cases using Machine Learning methods. This paper explores the use of Bayesian networks as explanatory models of the independent variables–the environment- and dependent variables–social decisions-, and also as predictive models. The study highlights how subsistence strategies are modified by ecological and topographical variables of the settlement location and their relationship with social organisation. It also establishes the role of Bayesian networks as a suitable supervised Machine Learning methodology for investigating socio-ecological systems, introducing their use to build useful data-driven models to address relevant archaeological and anthropological questions.

Resilience of Ethiopian Agropastoral Households in the Presence of Large-Scale Land Investments

Agropastoral societies in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa are facing challenges in their land use. Land shifts toward large-scale land investments have exacerbated the scarcity of pastures, thus affecting the resilience of pastoral systems. In this study, we assessed how large-scale land investments affect household resilience using data from the Living Standards Measurement Survey in Ethiopia. We estimated household resilience capacity by a multivariate two-step factor analysis and welfare resilience from net changes in welfare outcomes between two survey intervals. We also assessed the effect of large-scale land investment on household resilience using random effects ordered logistic regression model. Factors that enhanced the resilience capacities of households included access to livestock markets, social safety nets, extension, mobility, and social services. Approximately one-third of the study population had a low resilience capacity, and more than half had low welfare resilience. Moreover, proximity to a large-scale land investment significantly reduced households' likelihood of having high resilience capacity. Therefore, future resilience programs in agropastoral areas should mitigate the adverse effect of large-scale land investments by enhancing livelihood diversification and households' access to communal pastures.

Indigenous Rights of Children among Agropastoral Communities in Southern Ethiopia

This article offers insights into the social and cultural rights that children are entitled to among agro-pastoral communities in Ethiopia. From an Indigenous, bottom-up perspective, children’s “unwritten rights” are not just part of the customary rights and cultural practices but also exemplify local epistemologies that subvert the universal conceptualization of rights. Based on ethnographic data from Guji in Ethiopia’s south, this article critically discusses the multiple rights and obligation that children have in communities that experience indigenous ways of life.

Traction in Neolithic Çatalhöyük? Palaeopathological analysis of cattle and aurochs remains from the East and West Mounds

Cattle traction was a technological innovation that made a significant impact on production, individual and household wealth, and social organisation. Despite ongoing debates regarding the origins and extent of the harnessing of cattle power among early agropastoral societies, only a few studies have attempted at addressing this matter systematically. In Neolithic Çatalhöyük, several studies have explored the symbolism and domestication of aurochs and cattle, while the systematic investigation of Bos skeletal remains regarding the presence of cattle traction has been missing. This study focuses on Neolithic Çatalhöyük in Central Anatolia, renowned for its cattle symbolism, to explore the possibility of cattle traction in the 7th and 6th millennium BCE. We studied the palaeopathological traces on the lower limbs of Bos from Çatalhöyük East (Early, Middle, and Late) and West Mounds. Our results suggest that arthropathies are present on the Bos lower limbs (particularly anterior elements) in all phases of Neolithic Çatalhöyük. Pathological and sub-pathological changes are on average more severe among the small cattle of Çatalhöyük West than in the preceding periods at Çatalhöyük East, a result affected by a few rather deformed specimens in Çatalhöyük West. We did not observe any clear correlation between cattle survivorship, size, and pathology severity. Although an unequivocal association between pathologies and traction in prehistoric cattle remains challenging, we discuss plausible explanations for the changing nature and intensity of cattle pathologies at Çatalhöyük throughout time. Furthermore, we discuss the implications of possible draught use of cattle for the socioeconomic shifts Çatalhöyük experienced in the 6th millennium BC.

‘A Livestock Country Cannot Be Improvised’: Cattle Improvement, Economic Ambitions, and the Environment in Southern Mozambique, 1910s–1940s

ABSTRACT Due to the absence of the tsetse fly and the existence of large areas of pasture and fertile river valleys, bovine cattle have historically been central in the lives of African agro-pastoral societies in southern Mozambique. In the beginning of the twentieth century, Portuguese officials became interested in the expansion of the livestock economy to supply internal and external markets. But various diseases, irregular rainfall, and periodic drought posed numerous challenges. Echoing familiar tropes, colonial officials perceived local animal husbandry practices as backward and uneconomic, and argued that Landim cattle, the indigenous breed, was mostly useless. Debates ensued on whether the Landim breed could be improved or popular imported breeds successfully acclimatised to local conditions. This article discusses the evolution of official livestock policies for southern Mozambique between the 1910s and the 1940s. It investigates the way zootechnical debates concerning cattle improvement were influenced by popular scientific theories, economic aspirations, and a specific regional context, but also by perceptions of African and exotic breeds and attitudes towards the local environment. The article sheds light on how Africans, the main cattle owners in the region, responded in significant ways to these developments.

A wolf in sheep’s clothing: The development of livestock guarding dogs in the Adriatic region of Croatia

Since their domestication, dogs have adapted to a diverse portfolio of roles within human societies, and changes in dog size, shape, and behavior are often key indicators of these changes. Among pastoral and agropastoral societies dogs are almost ubiquitous as livestock guardians and herding aids. Archaeological data demonstrate that incoming Neolithic farmers brought with them their own morphologically distinct dogs when they spread into Europe, and that these dogs became larger in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Using archaeological data from the eastern Adriatic region we suggest that changes in the morphology and treatment of dog remains by these societies reflect, in part, the significance of dogs in livestock management including guarding herds kept at distances from villages. Bronze and Iron Age increases in body size, in particular, may track the increasing importance of seasonal transhumance.

La fiaba: Morfologia, antropologia e storia

La fiaba: Morfologia, antropologia e storia

Occupation and mobility in high-mountain agropastoral societies: a proposal for an ethnoarchaeological study in the Jbel Sirwa (Anti-Atlas, Morocco)

Since the first days of domestication, high mountain agropastoral societies have provided an exceptional example of adaptation and resilience to inhospitable territories, as the maintenance of population groups requires a delicate balance between transhumance and cultivation activities. Archaeological research into these societies has left numerous questions about the relationship between humans and the mountain environment unresolved. These questions have motivated the authors to explore the materiality of the daily life of the agropastoral populations of the Jbel Sirwa. Thus, with this proposal, the ARCHEOMOBAS project outlines an interdisciplinary methodological approach intended to carry out ethnoarchaeological studies of this kind of community in mountainous territories.

The Cardial–Epicardial Early Neolithic of Lower Rhône Valley (South-Eastern France): A Lithic Perspective

AbstractIn the lower Rhône Valley, many sites are attributed to the Early Neolithic and dated between 5600 and 4800 cal. BC. According to their ceramic production, they are associated with two cultural facies: the Cardial and the Epicardial. The relation between these two entities is still under debate (chronological, cultural or functional distinctions?). However, little is known about the lithic production of the region since the chipped stone industries are rarely evoked in the socioeconomic and cultural understanding of these first agropastoral societies. The objective of this paper is to propose a regional synthesis regarding Early Neolithic lithic industries, based on typo-technological studies of several assemblages in the Rhône Valley: The Montclus rockshelter (layers 5 to 2), the Baume de Ronze rockshelter, Le Taï and the Aigle cave. These sites are considered to be the key sites for understanding the Cardial/Epicardial complex in this area, but their lithic assemblages have never been thoroughly studied. Special attention will be given to the factors of variability or, on the contrary, to the permanence in the “schema opératoire”and we will propose explanations related to geological, functional, chronological and cultural constraints. We will also focus on lithic blade production made from honey flint and the spacialisation of “chaine opératoire” which could highlight circulation of this raw material and specialised distribution network. Finally, this synthesis is based on a renewed corpus of radiocarbon dates in order to understand this evolutionary dynamic as finely as possible.

The Role of Sacrifice in the Secular Age

Sacrifice was one of the main features of agro-pastoral societies [...]

Nyanga pottery and the Manyika ethnohistory: towards a decolonised archaeology of the Nyanga agricultural complex

Ancient pottery from the Nyanga agricultural complex (CE 1300–1900) in north-eastern Zimbabwe enjoys more than a century of archaeological research. Though several studies dedicated to the pottery have expanded the frontiers of knowledge about the peopling of Bantu-speaking agropastoral societies in this part of southern Africa, we know little about the social context in which the pottery was made, distributed, used, and discarded in everyday life. This mostly comes from the fact that the majority of the ceramic studies undertaken were rooted in Eurocentric typological approaches to material culture hence these processes were elided by most researchers. As part of the decolonial turn in African archaeology geared at rethinking our current understanding of the everyday life of precolonial agropastoral societies, we explored the lifecycle of traditional pottery among the Manyika, one of the local communities historically connected to the Nyanga archaeological landscape. The study proffered new dimensions to the previous typological analyses. It revealed a range of everyday roles and cultural contexts that probably shaped the lifecycle of local pottery in ancient Nyanga.

Defining Suitability in Mixed Agropastoral Societies: A Case Study from Bactria in Northern Afghanistan

ABSTRACT This paper explores the concept of suitability within applications of Ideal Distribution Models (IDMs). Specifically, we investigate the effectiveness of single measures of suitability in contexts where diverse local populations practised a range of subsistence strategies with different environmental requirements and sociocultural consequences. To do so, we draw on legacy survey data from northern Afghanistan, within the historic region of Bactria. This region of Central Asia has a rich history of nomadic pastoralism as well as dense urban settlement, with these two lifeways often occurring concurrently with complex social and economic interdependencies developing between pastoral and agricultural societies. Conceptually, we predict that such diversity should be difficult to model by conventional IDMs, as what may be defined as a low ranked habitat by one definition of suitability may be highly ranked in another. On the other hand, identifying strong deviations from IDMs may in fact indicate shifts in subsistence strategies and settlement patterns occurring across various periods of sociopolitical and cultural change. Based on our analysis, we conclude that single measures of suitability do not sufficiently model settlement patterns as predicted by IDMs but do in fact help highlight long-term processes of ecological engineering and inheritance.

Neolithic sheep birth distribution: Results from Nova Nadezhda (sixth millennium BC, Bulgaria) and a reassessment of European data with a new modern reference set including upper and lower molars

During the course of the diffusion of Neolithic agro-pastoral societies across Europe, animal husbandry was adapted to local constraints and resources, involving changes in practices as well as in animal physiology. As a result, the timing of animal breeding was impacted, with consequences on the organization of agro-pastoral tasks and the seasonal availability of animal products. Past sheep birth seasonality can be investigated through the reconstruction of the seasonal cycle recorded in molars, based on the sequential analysis of stable oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O) in enamel. Modern sheep serve as comparative material to define the season of birth. In the present study, we provide new reference values for winter births in the sheep third molar (M3) using data from the modern Kemenez sheep herd. The dataset also includes paired upper and lower M3s in order to test the comparability of results obtained from both teeth. Results show a moderate shift in the isotopic record between upper and lower M3s. The consecutive difference in the assessment of the timing of birth is one month, on average. Additionally, we provide a new set of results for sheep from Nova Nadezhda (Bulgaria, early sixth millennium BC), combining upper and lower molars, in order to expand data relating to the earliest stages of the introduction of sheep to Europe. At Nova Nadezhda, sheep were born in late winter and spring, and the pattern of birth distribution does not indicate the control of sheep reproduction by separating males from females. When compared to previously published results at other Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites in the Balkans, corrected for the shift between upper and lower M3s, no latitudinal and chronological trend is observed between the Southern Balkans, Northern Balkans and Hungarian plains over the early sixth to the second half of the fifth millennia BC. This apparent uniformity for the length (3–4 months) and timing of the birth period could be challenged in the future by enlarged datasets.

What is on the menu today? Creating a microwear reference collection through a controlled-food trial to study feeding management systems of ancient agropastoral societies

The study of ancient herd-feeding systems is essential to investigate livestock management and the interactions of humans with domestic animals and past environments. This topic for historic periods has recently been investigated through dental microwear analyses. This approach, however, must be used with caution, as it is based on comparisons of established microwear patterns of modern wild animals. Here we present an experimental reference collection of dental microwear for domestic sheep (Ovis aries), created by a controlled-food trial to fill this methodological gap. Fifty sheep were split into five groups of ten, fed with four different types of vegetation potentially used by agropastoral societies (alfalfa, ray-grass, forage, and barley), and administrated following different techniques of processing (wet, dried and fresh). After being fed with a specific and controlled diet, the animals were slaughtered and the microwear patterns on the enamel surface of the lower molars were analysed via standard light stereomicroscopy. The differences found in our experiment between the different diets and processed plants have allowed us to characterize each dietary group and feeding management system. This information is extremely important to correctly interpret the archaeological record.

First results on diet and mobility of the agropastoral societies of western Catamarca, Argentina

In this paper, we carry out an isotopic study to learn about the diet and mobility patterns of the human groups that inhabited different areas and environments of western Catamarca, Argentina, over almost 2500 years. We present and discuss the results of the isotopic composition of 26 bioarchaeological remains (δ13C and δ15N on bone collagen, and δ13C and δ18O on bone apatite) with their respective calibrated absolute dates, from different settings and elevations of the province of Catamarca. They account for the sociocultural development of both the first agropastoral village societies and the Inca society. We also present the regional isotopic context of autochthonous animal and plant food resources. The isotopic composition (δ13C and δ15N on bone collagen) of 47 samples of pre-Hispanic camelids recovered from archaeological sites located at different altitudes of the Fiambalá and Chaschuil regions are studied and discussed. In addition, the δ13C values of 52 native modern and archaeological plant samples are compiled, including samples from the region as well as information from the bibliography. Finally, isotopic analyses of water samples (δ18O) recovered from different environments in the study region are also shown. The data from δ13C and δ15N on bone collagen and δ13C on bone apatite show a high variability of the human diet of the populations of western Catamarca, and suggest that the societies that inhabited the region during the first millennium AD had a balanced diet that combined proteins and carbohydrates, while those dated after the thirteenth century AD reduced their protein intake, which would have significantly affected their health status. The first trends in the δ18O values indicate that individuals had low mobility patterns during their lives, except for some unusual cases of possible non-local individuals.

Arqueología de los ríos Pilcomayo, Bermejo y Paraguay

Los ríos Paraguay, Pilcomayo y Bermejo son los principales protagonistas del aporte hídrico y sedimentario de la cuenca del Plata y constituyen enclaves estratégicos para comprender el poblamiento y dinámica poblacional de las tierras bajas sudamericanas. Este artículo tiene por objetivo aportar al conocimiento del pasado histórico de estos importantes cursos de agua, desde el momento en que se registran las primeras evidencias de ocupación humana, basadas en el análisis de manifestaciones culturales y biológicas, y de otros rasgos particulares resultantes de la construcción del paisaje en este sector de la cuenca del Plata. Para dar cuenta de la variabilidad arqueológica regional se propone un ordenamiento que articula criterios ecológicos, culturales e históricos. Por ello distinguimos sectores que denominamos Pilcomayo y Bermejo andino pedemontano; Pilcomayo y Bermejo chaqueño y sector Río Paraguay al que hemos diferenciado en superior (nacientes), medio, inferior y confluencia. En estos últimos tramos intervienen los grandes abanicos del Pilcomayo y Bermejo y el área de la confluencia Paraná ? Paraguay, que están culturalmente relacionados. La fuente de información arqueológica utilizada proviene de las investigaciones realizadas por nuestro equipo en la región chaqueña y de la información disponible en la bibliografía, la cual, en un esfuerzo de síntesis, integramos desde la óptica chaqueña y a la luz de las últimas investigaciones regionales. A lo largo de estos tres grandes ríos se destaca la interacción de diversos grupos humanos que capitalizaron el recurso de manera particular. No sólo como elemento vital, sino también por su importancia como proveedor de alimentos, factor de movilidad y comunicación. A lo largo de la sectorización espacial y temporal propuesta daremos cuenta del aprovechamiento de geoformas naturales como los albardones, la producción intencional de elevaciones monticulares y otras obras utilizadas tanto para la protección de desbordes como para almacenar y ¨cosechar¨ agua. Asimismo, las distintas estrategias de movilidad, migración, expansión e intercambio se han articulado de manera compleja dentro del repertorio de resoluciones de estos pueblos a lo largo de su historia. Esto ha cristalizado en el registro arqueológico de organizaciones diferenciales ya sea a través de sociedades pescadoras con movilidad reducida y amplias redes de interacción; otras con énfasis en la caza, pesca y recolección con alta movilidad residencial, o sociedades agropastoriles con marcado grado de sedentarismo que incluyeron el cultivo, en mayor o menor escala, entre sus actividades económicas.

Land management and soil degradation evidence during the Late Holocene in Northwest Argentina (La Costa 2 - Tafí valley)

The Tafí valley (Northwest Argentina) was densely occupied by agropastoral societies during the Late Holocene. These peoples made profound changes in the landscape during the development of productive economies. Previous geomorphological and geoarchaeological studies have produced good basic information about the Holocene landscape evolution of this semiarid region. However, little is known about the relationship between human activities and landscape responses. The alluvial fans forming the valley's piedmonts show morphosedimentary records that could be related to environmental changes and, from Late Holocene, with human activities. Agropastoral settlements started in the Formative Period (ca. 2500 yr BP) and land exploitation practices produced a profound degradative impact. This paper applies geoarchaeological techniques to explore the magnitude of the geomorphological and edaphic alterations introduced by man. Analyzed records enabled us to make an evaluation of erosive and degradative processes produced as dynamic geomorphological responses to human interventions. These processes were decisive for the current configuration of the valley.

The Neolithic Transition in the Western Mediterranean: a Complex and Non-Linear Diffusion Process—The Radiocarbon Record Revisited

ABSTRACTThe Neolithic transition is a particularly favorable field of research for the study of the emergence and evolution of cultures and cultural phenomena. In this framework, high-precision chronologies are essential for decrypting the rhythms of emergence of new techno-economic traits. As part of a project exploring the conditions underlying the emergence and dynamics of the development of the first agro-pastoral societies in the Western Mediterranean, this paper proposes a new chronological modeling. Based on 45 new radiocarbon (14C) dates and on a Bayesian statistical framework, this work examines the rhythms and dispersal paths of the Neolithic economy both on coastal and continental areas. These new data highlight a complex and far less unidirectional dissemination process than that envisaged so far.