AskAnthropology

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Theorising pastoralism (self.askanthropology)

submitted 8 months ago by tributarium to c/[email protected]

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All right so I'm not super well-read in this area but I did a scattershot self-guided reading trying to understand early ancient Mesopotamia in my undergrad. Of the dozens (and dozens and dozens...) of sources I consulted the most interesting was a short article by a woman (I think in the handbook of ancient near eastern history or something like that, I'm not sure) basically very cantankerously pointing out tha the footprint of pastoralism is seriously faint in the archaeological record and we probably seriously underestimate the extent to which civilisations like ancient Mesopotamia were also underscored by and based on pastoralism. I'm aware of famous ethnographies of pastoralist communities (the Nuer etc) but what are/are there important works theorising pastoralism per se and what it can tell us about human history and human ecology?

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[–] tributarium 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for your reply! I don't think this community is big enough for many rules at all, let alone stringent quality control lol. I'm just happy for the company! That you linked page numbers is even better :) Harriet Crawford--I remember that name!

To be clear: I'm not actually especially interested in Mesopotamia anymore. I'm more interested in the conditions that precipitated pastoralism in different places around the world and its social and ecological consequences. I'm vaguely aware of clan stuff, ofc the segmental faction stuff, I remember reading about something to the effect of how cattle almost guarantee a particular social arrangement involving bride prices. I'm curious about how people read pastoralism in the archaeological record and what we can say about its roots. And broad ethnographic insights: how pastoralism relates to sedentary domestication, what kind of habitus and biological changes does it induce in humans, animals, & the local environment (landscape & other animals & microbiology). I gotta read Ingold, I know..

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

This all sounds interesting and I wish I had the education to answer it, but I don't.

what kind of habitus and biological changes does it induce in humans

I think Mesopotamia is interesting precisely due to it being the first place where sedentary societies truly became common place and archaeology in that region might give us clues where that transition happened.

As for biological changes, I wonder if we might be able to find signs of viruses or diseases from bones of pre-historical humans? Some diseases likely jumped from cattle to humans, like with COVID-19.