Nomadic pastoralism
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Nomadic pastoralism is a form of agriculture where livestock (such as cattle, sheep, goats, and camels), are taken to different locations in order to find fresh pastures. It is commonly practiced in regions with little arable land, typically in the developing world. Of the estimated 30–40 million nomadic pastoralists worldwide, most are found in central Asia and the Sahel region of West Africa. Increasing numbers of stock may lead to overgrazing of the area and desertification if lands are not allowed to fully recover between one grazing period and the next. Increased enclosure and fencing of land has reduced the amount of land available for this practice.
Nomadic pastoralism was a result of the Neolithic Revolution. During the revolution, humans began domesticating animals and plants for food and started forming cities. Nomadism generally has existed in symbiosis with such settled cultures trading animal products (meat, hides, wool, cheeses and other animal products) for manufactured items not produced by the nomadic herders.
Historically nomadic herder lifestyles has led to warrior based cultures, that have made them fearsome enemies of settled people. Tribal confederations built by charismatic nomadic leaders have sometimes held sway over huge areas as incipient state structures, whose stability is dependent upon the distribution of taxes, tribute and plunder taken from settled populations.[1]
In the past it was asserted that Pastormal nomads left no presence archaeologically but this has now been challenged. Pastoral nomadic sites are identified based on their location outside the zone of agriculture, the absence of grains or grain-processing equipment, limited and characteristic architecture, a predominance of sheep and goat bones, and by ethnographic analogy to modern pastoral nomadic peoples[2] Juris Zahrins has proposed that pastoral nomadism began as a cultural lifestyle in the wake of the 6,200BCE climatic crisis when Harifian huntergatherers fused with PPNB agriculturalists to produce a nomadic lifestyle based on animal domestication developing a Circum Arabian nomadic pastoral complex, and spreading Proto-Semitic languages.
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