The archaeology of pastoralism, mobility, and society : beyond the grass paradigm / Emily Hammer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hammer, Emily, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pastoral systems--History--Study and teaching.

Pastoral systems.

Human territoriality--Study and teaching.

Human territoriality.

Human geography--Study and teaching.

Human geography.

Ethnohistory--Study and teaching.

Ethnohistory.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 406 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2025.

Summary:

Though mobile pastoralists were long a significant component of many societies in Eurasia and Africa, scholars have long considered them to be materially and documentarily 'invisible.' The archaeological study of pastoralism across these regions has relied on ethnographic analogies and environmentally deterministic models, often with little or no data on historically specific herding communities. This approach has yielded a static picture of pastoralism through time that has only recently been challenged. In this book, Emily Hammer articulates a new framework for investigating variability in past pastoral practices. She proposes ways to develop a more rigorous relationship with pastoralist ethnographies and illustrates new archaeological and scientific methodologies for collecting direct data on herding, mobility, and social complexity in the past. Hammer's approach to the archaeology of pastoralism promotes efforts to dismantle the legacy of evolutionary classifications of human societies, which have drawn sharp distinctions between farmers and herders, and to investigate how diverse non-agricultural and mobile groups have shaped complex society and environment.

Contents:

Cover

Half-title

Title page

Imprints page

Table of Contents

List of Figures

Preface

Acknowledgments

Prologue: Grass and Orientalist Perspectives on the Bakhtiari

Chapter One From Orientalist Tropes to aDNA and Isotopes: Persistent Problems in the Archaeology of Pastoralism

The Tenacity of Orientalist Lenses on Ancient and Historical Pastoralism

The Archaeology of Pastoralism: A Short Disciplinary History

Four Major Barriers to the Writing of Histories of Pastoralism

Aims, Objectives, and Scope

Chapter Two Resolving Conceptual Conflation: Pastoralism, Mobility, Complexity, Production, and Landscapes

The (Continuing) Need for Definitions

Basic Definitions: Pastoralism, Agropastoralism, Herding

Old Frameworks 1: Nomadism

Mobility: Shedding the Disciplinary Baggage of ''Nomadism''

Old Frameworks 2: Tribal Organization, ''Egalitarianism,'' and External Dependency

Complexity Associated with Pastoralism: Attempts to Move beyond Ecologically Deterministic (or ''Economics First'') Approaches

Old Frameworks 3: Specialized Pastoralism

Intensification: Variability and Change in Pastoral Production

Old Frameworks 4: Marginal Land

Pastoral Landscapes and their Affordances

Conclusion

Chapter Three Escaping the Tyranny of the Ethnographic Record on Pastoralism

Background: Ethnographic Analogy in Archaeology and Studies of Pastoralism

Use and Misuse of Ethnographic and Ethnohistoric Analogy in the Archaeology of Pastoralism

Source-Side Solutions for More Reliable Analogies

An Example of Source-Side Improvements: Spatial Ethnoarchaeology of Twentieth-Century Pastoralists in Southeastern Turkey

Conclusion.

Chapter Four Bones, Teeth, Seeds, Dung, Corrals, and Beyond: Foundational Methodologies Applied to Landscapes, Sites, and Assemblages Related to the History of Pastoralism

Foundational Field Data on Pastoralism from Sites and Landscapes

Survey and Landscape Approaches

Excavation

Innovations in Survey and Excavation: Aerial Remote Sensing, Geophysics, Dating, Research Orientations

Foundational Laboratory Methodologies for Reconstructing Herds, Seasonality, and Pastoral Practices

Zooarchaeology

Archaeobotany

Geoarchaeology and Microbotanical Studies: Dung and Phytoliths

Geoarchaeology, Archaeobotany, and Landscape Reconstruction: Grazing Suitability and the Environmental Impacts of Pastoralism

Chapter Five Biomolecular Approaches to Pastoralism, Diet, and Mobility in the Past

Isotopic Analysis

DNA and Archaeogenetics

Organic Residue Analysis: Animal Carcass Fat and Milk Fat

Proteomics: Milk Proteins in Human Dental Calculus

Chapter Six Multidisciplinary Means of Addressing Pastoral Ecologies and Economies in the Past

Question 1: Were People Engaged in Pastoralism and, if so, What Animals Were Herded?

Question 2: Were Herders and Herd Animals Mobile and, if so, What Were the Characteristics of This Mobility?

Question 3: Beyond Mobility, Herd Composition, and Penning, How Were Animals Managed?

Question 4: How Were Animal Products Consumed and How Broad Were Human Diets?

Question 5: How Intensified, Diversified, or Specialized Was Pastoral Production in a Community?

Question 6: What Did the Landscape Afford Herders and Herds? How Did Herding Impact the Environment?

Question 7: What Markers of Social Complexity Are Present or Absent within the Community? How Did Herding and Mobility Affect the Social Cohesion of the Community?

Chapter Seven Social and Political Perspectives on Ancient and Historical Pastoralism

''Beyond Protein and Calories'': Social Zooarchaeology

Beyond Pasture, Water, and Herds: The Social Archaeology of Pastoral Landscapes, Monuments, Gathering Places, and Infrastructure

The Future: Household Archaeology Applied to Settlements and Campsites

Chapter Eight Uniting Separate Regional Traditions for a Comparative Archaeology of Pastoralism

Regional Scholarly Traditions: Pastoralism in East Africa, the Middle East, and Central Eurasia

Bridging Regional Divides

Chapter Nine Conclusion: Histories of Pastoralism

Revisiting ''Grand Narratives''

Five ''Grand Narratives'' of Pastoralism and Pastoral Mobility

What the Archaeology of Pastoralism Offers Comparative Anthropology and History

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 12 Sep 2025).

ISBN:

1-009-56169-3

1-009-56168-5

1-009-56170-7

OCLC:

1517977808