Agropastoral Societies Research Articles

Güneydoğu Anadolu’nun Kızıltepe’deki Agro-Pastoral Topluluklar Üzerine Bir Antrozoolojik İnceleme

Since the origin, humans have been depended and formed mixtures of complex relationships with nonhuman animals. These mutualistic relationships eventually intensified following the animal domestication. Southeast Anatolia is one of the important regions where the first domestication of sheep, goat, cattle, and pig occurred as well as domestic herds have been fundamental in every socio-cultural aspect in the region until today. Therefore, Southeast Anatolia has been an ideal place for pastoral and antorozoological study. Through fieldworks and exploratory case studies in agro-pastoral societies in Kızıltepe, we found certain sheep, goats, and cattle are capable of distinguishing and recognizing human and other cross-species individuals as like they do in their own species. Alongside of providing protein, wealth and social status, herd animals in Kızıltepe also possess deep affection and emotional bonds with human individuals as like as pets in urban societies. On the other hand, we do not observe any gender or sibling effect in children-animal bond which was focused in some contemporary studies. Our overall observations and findings also demonstrate some intangible culture cores in Southeast Anatolia which is promoted mainly by the complex relationships between human and their domestic herds.

Coupled Socio-Environmental Changes Triggered Indigenous Aymara Depopulation of the Semiarid Andes of Tarapacá-Chile during the Late 19th-20th Centuries.

Socio-economic and environmental changes are well known causes of demographic collapse of agrarian cultures. The collapse of human societies is a complex phenomenon where historical and cultural dimensions play a key role, and they may interact with the environmental context. However, the importance of the interaction between socio-economic and climatic factors in explaining possible breakdowns in Native American societies has been poorly explored. The aim of this study is to test the role of socio-economic causes and rainfall variability in the collapse suffered by the Aymara people of the semiarid Andean region of Tarapacá during the period 1820–1970. Our motivation is to demonstrate that simple population dynamic models can be helpful in understanding the causes and relative importance of population changes in Andean agro-pastoral societies in responses to socio-environmental variability. Simple logistic models that combine the effects of external socio-economic causes and past rainfall variability (inferred from Gross Domestic Product [GDP] and tree-rings, respectively) were quite accurate in predicting the sustained population decline of the Aymara people. Our results suggest that the depopulation in the semiarid Tarapacá province was caused by the interaction among external socio-economic pressures given by the economic growth of the lowlands and demands for labor coupled with a persistent decline in rainfall. This study constitutes an example of how applied ecological knowledge, in particular the application of the logistic equation and theories pertaining to nonlinear population dynamics and exogenous perturbations, can be used to better understand major demographic changes in human societies.

Moving obsidian: The case of Antofagasta de la Sierra basin (Southern Argentinean Puna) during the late Middle and Late Holocene

This paper presents the results of an XRF analysis on the provenience of 118 obsidian artifacts from archaeological sites of the Antofagasta de la Sierra basin (Catamarca Province Argentina) dating to the late Middle and Late Holocene (c.4500–1100 BP). The time span considered encompasses a local process of gradual transformation from hunter-gatherer/early agro-pastoral groups to consolidated agro-pastoral societies. For this study, non-destructive elemental analysis of obsidian artifacts was conducted using two different X-ray fluorescence spectrometers (ED-XRF). This information was then supplemented by previous provenience results, undertaken on 59 obsidian archaeological artifacts from the same area. A comparative synthesis of chemical and macroscopic characterization of five obsidian sources located in Southern Argentinean Puna is also presented. The provenance of archaeological materials was assigned by comparison with twelve presently known Argentine sources. On this basis, late Middle and Late Holocene obsidian regional movement patterns, differential distribution and use of this raw material are discussed. Furthermore, this obsidian research lends support to the existence of exchange networks based on the use of different extra-regional obsidian sources located in the Northern Argentinean Puna.

Économie préhistorique des îles bretonnes (France) : apports des industries lithiques du Néolithique récent et final

L’économie d’un territoire insulaire est un thème encore peu exploré sur la façade Manche-Atlantique, et ce plus spécialement dans le cadre de l’installation des sociétés agropastorales et de leurs dynamiques d’approvisionnement. Aborder une recherche de cet ordre implique une série de questionnements (Audouard, 2014) : – les ressources des îles, à la fois limitées (surface exploitable réduite, gestion cynégétique complexe) et diversifiées (ressources terrestres et maritimes) ont-elles entraîné des adaptations économiques et sociales ? ; – les populations ont-elles dépassé les contraintes de leur environnement grâce à un dynamisme de contacts et d’échanges ? L’industrie lithique se présente comme un média pertinent pour aborder les modalités d’approvisionnement en matières premières et examiner l’importance des roches importées. Cette recherche portera sur la période du Néolithique récent-final, cette dernière s’affirmant comme une phase où l’exploitation des ressources littorales semble rationnalisée et où les échanges avec le continent attestent de situations inégales entre les îles de la mer d’Iroise et les îles atlantiques. En effet, l’examen de l’industrie lithique de différents sites de la péninsule bretonne (de l’archipel de Molène à Belle-Île-en-Mer) indique une surexploitation des galets de silex côtiers, dont la diminution de la taille depuis le début du Néolithique en serait la conséquence. Cette surexploitation des ressources locales se double d’un faible appel à l’importation, les roches exogènes n’étant que peu représentées dans les assemblages. Sur ce point, nous verrons que toutes les îles ne sont pas forcément isolées des échanges avec le continent, et que la proximité avec les marges sédimentaires du Massif armoricain joue un rôle déterminant. Nous évoquerons la multiplication sur les îles et îlots des sites spécialisés tels que les amas de débitage et les sites à perçoirs abondants. Les caractéristiques observées feront l’objet de comparaisons avec les données disponibles sur les proches sites continentaux, et d’interroger l’impact de l’insularité sur leur émergence.

Times of Continuity and Development. Visions of the Future among Agro-Pastoral Children and Young People in Southern Ethiopia

This article explores how children and young people from agro-pastoral societies in southern Ethiopia imagine their future. Children and young people who have not been going to school, as well as students in rural and urban areas, imagine their future differently. Their visions of the future can be located on a continuum between a future life as agro-pastoralists on the one end, and life in town with a job as an employee on the other. Where a person’s vision is located on this continuum depends on the influences he or she has experienced from school and town life. My analysis shows how, through the influence of schooling, young people’s concept of time shifts from a cyclical one, concentrated on the reproduction of the social world, towards a linear one, focused on personal and “national” development.

Megalithic Antithesis: Case Study of the Funerary Monument of Colos (Abrantes, Central Portugal)

In this paper the authors attempt to explain the funerary behaviors of the agro-pastoral societies who lived in Abrantes (Central Portugal) between the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age. Our aim is to fully understand the Colos site based on archaeographical data and then insert it into a broader, comprehensive context. What makes this case particularly interesting and noteworthy is its lack of visibility in the landscape, situated next to a natural rock outcrop, which is in contrast to the megalithic practice of the time. We wonder if this invisibility and absolute lack of reference to its physical space has some social and cultural connection with a particular agro-pastoral community or if, instead, it is anomalous.

ESTUDIO PETROGRÁFICO DE LA CERÁMICA ARQUEOLÓGICA DEL PRIMER MILENIO D.C. AL SUR DE LOS VALLES CALCHAQUÍES (NOROESTE ARGENTINO)

This article describes a research project that sought to establish technical ceramic manufacturing styles used by potters of agropastoral societies that live...

The economic origins of the evil eye belief

The evil eye belief is a widespread superstition according to which people can cause harm by a mere envious glance at coveted objects or their owners. This paper argues that such belief originated and persisted as a useful heuristic under conditions in which envy was likely to trigger destructive behavior and the avoidance of other people's envy, effectively prescribed by the evil eye belief, was a proper response to that threat. We hypothesize that in weakly institutionalized societies wealth differentiation and vulnerability of productive assets were the key factors enabling envy-induced destructive behavior and contributing to the emergence and spread of the evil eye belief as a cultural defense mechanism. Evidence from small-scale preindustrial societies shows that there is indeed a robust positive association between the incidence of the belief and measures of wealth inequality, controlling for potential confounding factors such as patterns of spatial and cross-cultural diffusion and various dimensions of early economic development. Furthermore, the evil eye belief is more prevalent in agro-pastoral societies that tend to sustain higher levels of inequality and where vulnerable material wealth plays a dominant role in the subsistence economy.

Mobility, Land Use, and Leadership in Small-Scale and Middle-Range Societies

Over the past century, the fields of archaeology and anthropology have produced a number of different theoretical approaches and a substantial body of data aimed at ways to understand hunter-gatherer, horticultural, and agropastoral societies. This review considers four recent edited volumes on foraging and food-producing societies. These books deal in innovative ways with a broad array of issues, including transitions in human prehistory and history, mobility, land use, sharing, technology, social leveling strategies, leadership, and the formation of social hierarchies. Small-scale societies include hunter-gatherers or foragers, while middle-range societies may include complex hunter-gatherer (ones with storage and delayed return systems), horticultural, and agropastoral societies, some of them with institutionalized leadership, status hierarchies, and differential access to power and resources. An important set of themes in these books includes diversity in adaptations to complex social and natural environments, the significance of (1) matter, (2) energy, and (3) information in small-scale and middle-range societies on several continents, the persistence of foraging, and the development of inequality. The roles of sharing, exchange, and leadership in small-scale and middle-range societies are explored, as are explanations for social, economic, and political transformations among groups over time and across space.

Développement des tourbières, changements environnementaux et action de l’Homme À l’Holocène moyen et récent en Europe occidentale : l’exemple de la prenarde-Pifoy dans le Massif Central français

Research conducted on the origin of peatlands and mires in the eastern French Massif Central during the last years has revealed some strong links between the peatland formation dynamics and the human impact above 600 m a.s.l. However, even if the anthropogenic origin of a huge number of peatlands has been proven for those build up during the last 4,500 years, the role of human societies for the appearance of peatlands between 6,500 and 4,500 cal. yr BP (Middle to Final Neolithic Period) is still in discussion because of the lack of detailed knowledge on past agro-pastoral societies. Therefore, an interdisciplinary and multi-proxy study dealing with geomorphology, pedology, micromorphology, palynology, macrofossils, diatoms and the dating of basal peat, was conducted at the La Prenarde-Pifoy mire in the Monts du Forez mountain range. We had two main aims: at first, to reconstruct the history of agro-pastoralism and, second, to provide an accurate chronology of bioclimatical and ecological changes induced by human activities. The results show that it is impossible to sufficiently argue for an anthropogenic origin of this mire, whose lateral expansion started from about 6,204-5,895 cal. yr BP onwards. Considering the history of agro-pastoral activities during the Subboreal and Subatlantic chronozones three major phases can be reconstructed: First palynological evidence of agro-pastoral action was recorded for the time period between 5,200 and 4,800 cal. yr BP, whereas these anthropogenic signals disappear between 4,800 and 2,700 cal. yr BP, a time span during which beech-fir woods dominated the landscape. After 2,700 cal. yr BP the agro-pastoral impact started again and stayed pronounced and permanent until the 19th century AD, however with notable and changing intensity.

The Economic Origins of the Evil Eye Belief

The evil eye belief is a widespread superstition according to which people can cause harm by a mere envious glance at coveted objects or their owners. This paper argues that such belief originated and persisted as a useful heuristic under conditions in which envy was likely to trigger destructive behavior and the avoidance of other people's envy, effectively prescribed by the evil eye belief, was a proper response to that threat. We hypothesize that in weakly institutionalized societies wealth differentiation and vulnerability of productive assets were the key factors enabling envy-induced destructive behavior and contributing to the emergence and spread of the evil eye belief as a cultural defense mechanism. Evidence from small-scale preindustrial societies shows that there is indeed a robust positive association between the incidence of the belief and measures of wealth inequality, controlling for potential confounding factors such as patterns of spatial and cross-cultural diffusion and various dimensions of early economic development. Furthermore, the evil eye belief is more prevalent in agro-pastoral societies that tend to sustain higher levels of inequality and where vulnerable material wealth plays a dominant role in the subsistence economy.

Circumventing Parental Choice and the Evolution of Rape

The female invests greatly in her offspring (i.e., through the nine months gestation period, breast-feeding, etc.) which turns her into the scarce reproductive resource to which men strive to gain access (Trivers, 1972). Having the ability to exercise choice, women choose mates who increase their fitness. In particular, they tend to prefer men with beneficial qualities, including industriousness, high social status, wealth, good genetic quality (with beauty as a proxy), and so on (Buss, 2003). Men with these qualities are highly successful at mating while those who lack them are excluded from reproduction. Thornhill and Palmer (2000) proposed that men are likely to have evolved a forced-sex strategy which, in the event that they find themselves in the latter category, prevents them from being excluded from mating. Thishypothesisassumes thatduringhumanevolution,where this strategy evolved, women were able to exercise choice. However, anthropological and historical evidence suggests that, in ancestral times, women were not free and their mate choices were controlled by their parents (Apostolou, 2010b; Stephens, 1963). Consequently, it is unlikely that rape has evolved to circumvent female choice because this had been a weak selection force. In more detail, parents and children have conflicting interests when it comes to mating (Trivers, 1972). That is, when mate choice is exercised, children tend to place emphasis on traits such as beauty and personality while parents tend to emphasize traits such as good family background (Apostolou, 2008; Buunk, Park, & Dubbs, 2008; Perilloux, Fleischman, & Buss, 2011). This means that if children are left to exercise choice on their own, parents are likely to find themselves with in-laws who lack the qualities they desire (Apostolou, 2008; Buunk et al., 2008). Consequently, free mate choice is costly for parents, which results in evolutionary pressure being exercised on them to place the mating decisions of their children under their control and choose in-laws who best fit their preferences. By means of their greater physical strength and control of resources, parents are able to do so (Apostolou, 2007). To go into more detail, in the vast majority of societies which base their subsistence on hunting and gathering, arranged marriage (i.e., parents choosing spouses for their children) is the primary mode of long-term mating (Apostolou, 2007). This is also the case for societies which base their subsistence on agriculture and animal husbandry (Apostolou, 2010b). Across all types of societies, parents are primarily interested in controlling the mate choices of their daughters rather than of their sons andmaleparentshavemoredecision-makingpower inmarriage arrangements than female parents (Apostolou, 2010b). This evidence is informative about the patterns of mating prevalent during human evolution. More specifically, the genus homo appeared on earth approximately 2 million years ago and until about 10,000 years ago all humans were living as hunters and gatherers (Lee & DeVore, 1968). Although these ancestral foragers did not leave behind any written records, their way of life was most likely similar to the way of life of their modern counterparts (Lee & DeVore, 1968). On this basis, it can be argued that the patterns of mating found among modern foragers (i.e., arranged marriage, control of women, etc.) have beenprevalent throughoutmostofhumanevolution(Apostolou, 2007). This is corroborated by research based on phylogenetic analysis which attempts to reconstruct the conditions in ancestral societies (Walker, Hill, Flinn, & Ellsworth, 2011). Similarly, the patterns of mating found in contemporary agropastoral societies are likely to have also been prevalent in ancestral agropastoral societies (Apostolou, 2010b).However, many of these societies have invented writing so we do not M. Apostolou (&) Department of Social Sciences, University of Nicosia, 1700 Nicosia, Cyprus e-mail: m.apostolou@gmail.com

Collective burials among agro-pastoral societies in later Neolithic Germany: perspectives from ancient DNA

Ancient DNA research has focused on the genetic patterns of the earliest farmers during the European Neolithic, especially with regards to the demographic changes in the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. However, genetic data is relatively lacking after this earliest transition period, when societies had fully adapted to new agrarian lifestyles specific to their local environment. During the later central European Neolithic (ca. 3600–2800 cal BC), large-scale collective burials and monumental architecture appeared within the landscape of many agricultural societies. This phenomenon has been argued to represent the emergence of a “collective” identity. With the aim of exploring genetic-based relations among individuals collectively buried, we obtained human skeletal remains of nearly 200 individuals from four later Neolithic collective burial sites in Germany: Calden, Odagsen, Groβenrode, and Panker. We successfully reproduced reliable mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotypes from eight Neolithic individuals, which were assigned to haplogroups H, HV0, and X2. Shared haplotypes observed among individuals within Calden and Odagsen suggest that genetic relations may have shaped the arrangement of the deceased within later Neolithic agricultural groups.

Parental choice: What parents want in a son‐in‐law and a daughter‐in‐law across 67 pre‐industrial societies

Parents are influential over mate choice, and in most human societies they choose spouses for their offspring according to their own preferences. However, surprising little is known about the qualities which make a woman desirable as a daughter-in-law and a man desirable as a son-in-law. Using evidence from 67 societies such traits are identified and three hypotheses are tested: first, the hypothesis is tested that parents desire in an in-law qualities which are beneficial to them and their kin. Second, it is hypothesized that such preferences are contingent upon the sex of the in-law, as traits are weighted differently in a daughter-in-law and in a son-in-law. The third hypothesis tested is that parental preferences vary according to the subsistence type of a given society, as traits are valued differently in agropastoral societies and foraging societies. The evidence presented here provides support for all three hypotheses.

Bridewealth as an instrument of male parental control over mating: Evidence from the standard cross-cultural sample

Marriage is associated with some form of financial transaction, the most common of which is bridewealth. To bear the costs of bridewealth, sons rely on the assistance of their fathers, which in turn makes the latter influential over the former's mating decisions. Effectively, bridewealth becomes an instrument through which male parents impose their will on their male offspring. On these grounds three hypotheses are tested: first, it is hypothesised that in societies where bridewealth is practiced, men are more influential over marriage arrangements; second due to its material nature, bridewealth is more frequently practiced in agropastoral societies than in foraging ones. Finally, the hypothesis is tested that sons are more dependent upon their parents for shouldering the costs of bridewealth in agropastoral than in foraging societies. Using data from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample this study finds evidence in support for all three hypotheses. These findings partially explain why sexual selection under parental choice is stronger in agropastoral than in foraging societies.

Sexual selection under parental choice in agropastoral societies

Evidence from the anthropological record indicates that in most human societies, parents control the mating access to their offspring. Based on these data, a model of sexual selection has been recently proposed, whereby along with female and male choice, parental choice constitutes a significant sexual selection force in our species. This model was found to provide a good account for the mating patterns which are typical of foraging societies. By employing data from the Standard Cross Cultural Sample, the present study aims at examining whether this model can also account for the mating patterns typical of agricultural and pastoral societies. In addition, comparisons between different society types are made and two model-derived hypotheses are tested. First, it is hypothesised that parents have more control over their offspring's mate choices in non-foraging societies. Second, it is hypothesised that male parents exert greater decision making power in agropastoral societies than in hunting and gathering ones. Both hypotheses are supported by the results presented here. The evolutionary implications of these findings are also explored.

Human ecology, ethnobotany and traditional practices in rural populations inhabiting the Monte region: Resilience and ecological knowledge

In this study, we looked for insights on how human populations inhabiting the Monte, interact with arid environments and how they use ecological knowledge on wild plants for their subsistence. Rural communities living in the Monte region have been undergoing extreme changes in both social and ecological scenarios. Most of them are agro-pastoral societies living under precarious conditions, and whose land shows marked signs of degradation. Wild plants represent an important part of their dietary components; i.e. these resources probably act as a sustenance buffer in periods of seasonal scarcity. In the present study, we analyzed some ethno-ecological strategies undertaken by these rural communities. The ethnobotanical knowledge of greatest cultural and nutritional significance includes the use of many wild plants such as Prosopis spp., Schinus spp., Ephedra spp., Condalia and Larrea spp., among others. Since ancestral times, these xeric species have been utilized as edible, medicinal, tinctorial, fodder and fuel resources. Many rural populations not only maintain wild plant use, but they also practice cattle transhumance, a tradition which tends to reduce over-grazing, allowing for the recovery of most palatable plants. Cattle transhumance, also an ancient practice, is based on landscape patchiness use. Both practices appear to be associated with an adaptive and resilient natural resource management. We refer to resilience as the capacity to cope with disturbances and changes, prevalent features in populations inhabiting this arid region. We also explore, through a study case in Patagonia, the present use of wild edible plants, its relationship with summer-cattle-transhumance, and the most salient socio-cultural factors affecting these practices. Summer-transhumance contributes to the utilization of a greater richness and quantity of wild edible plants. This activity, which used to be a family tradition, seems to be changing given that nowadays it is mainly carried out by single family members. Wild plant gathering and summer-transhumance traditions tend to be diminishing at present, probably caused by acculturation processes and socio-economic pressures. Consequently, by abandoning these ancestral customs, a negative impact on the resilience capacity of these rural communities might be occurring. This erosion process leads to a decrease in their long-term wellbeing as well as an increase in their socio-ecological vulnerability.

Les politiques alimentaires au Maghreb et leurs conséquences sur les sociétés agropastorales

Véronique Alary and Mohammed El Mou rid — Food policies in North Africa and their consequences on agro-pastoral societies. Until the adoption of liberalization policies from the 1980's, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia have favoured a policy of food self-sufficiency based on economic planning and public control of networks. Despite all this, the external food dependency went on increasing during all the period. With liberalization of exchanges, governments stress a concept of food security based on the satisfaction of the needs of the population through local and imported products. What are the consequences of this evolution on livestock systems and on agro-pastoral societies in the steppe areas of Maghreb ?

Introduction involontaire de la souris domestique (Mus musculus domesticus) à Chypre dès le Néolithique précéramique ancien (fin IX e et VIII e millénaires av. J.-C.)

Sample scarcity and the need of a methodology well-suited to determination of archaeological specimens are responsible for the lack of information on the mechanism and on the ecological and anthropological conditions of the spread of the house mouse in Europe. We applied Fourier outline analysis to the lower first molars of mice from assemblages trapped in water wells from Early and Middle PPNB in Cyprus (Kissonerga–Mylouthkia). Results suggest that the house mouse was a part of the Neolithic ecological and cultural package introduced into the island by the very first agro-pastoral societies coming from the mainland.

Livestock as Capital and a Tool for Ex-Ante and Ex-Post Management of Food Insecurity in Semi-Traditional Agropastoral Societies: An Example from South-East Kenya

Livestock as Capital and a Tool for Ex-Ante and Ex-Post Management of Food Insecurity in Semi-Traditional Agropastoral Societies: An Example from South-East Kenya