In this short follow-up to my role as discussant in the seminar, I shall range broadly over topics related to pastoral nomadism. My remarks are based on papers in the seminar as well as personal experience with transhumant pastoralists in Iran, and long-term, but more casual observation of nomads and their camps elsewhere in the near east. rather than comment specifically on particular papers, I have chosen to organize this paper topically, referring to seminar papers as needed.
During the seminar I was particularly struck by the lack of emphasis, or absence of discussion in most of the papers, on the impact of terrain and climate in the formation and nature of nomadic societies. This is not to disparage sociopolitical factors that also loom large, but to recognize that landscape and climate are important parts of the adaptation of pastoral people. nomads range over terrain as varied as the great nefud Desert of arabia to the grasslands of northern mesopotamia, to the steep, folded mountains of the zagros and the endless grasslands of central asia. climate along with topography constrain nomadism to longer or shorter migrations, and the use of one or another species of livestock. Because of the need to sustain herds in a generally arid, strongly seasonal environment, mobility is essential, but the pace and distances over which it occurs, as well as the resources that are available, differ greatly among the principal habitats. Landscape and climate provide a structure and partial rationale for my topical discussions that follow.
Climate
The climate in the near East is one of extremes between wet, cool winter months and hot, dry summers. for farmers and herders the growing season is winter/spring. This is when the annual grasses, forbs, and crops grow. By late spring this vegetation has begun to turn brown as it ripens and withers with the rapidly rising temperatures. Precipitation is highly variable and, along with cooler winter temperatures, the principal determinant of a successful growing season. Without going into detail (see Sanlaville 2000a-b; Wirth 1971), it suffices to say that the boundary between rain-fed agriculture and steppe pastoralism fluctuates today, so that in regions of 300 mm average annual precipitation, in three years out of ten crops may be lost. In zones where average annual precipitation is less than 150 mm, success can be anticipated in only one out of ten years. Late winter frost or a prolonged cold spell may delay the critical period of seed growth and expose plants to premature desiccation. The variables are too many to detail here; the point is that in an agriculturally marginal zone, pastoral mobility provides more security than fixed-place agriculture.
This is true today and we know that climate has fluctuated in the past, sometimes with devastating impact (Hole 1997). Whether or not one agrees that desiccation caused the collapse of
FRANK HOLE
The Akkadian empire, it is incontestable that the Khabur basin suffered a drought that led to the virtual abandonment of settlements (Lyonnet 1998; sallaberger 2007; Weiss 1997; Wilkinson 2000a-b). That the drought was preceded by a lengthy period when precipitation exceeded that of today is also widely recognized (Riehl 2007; Riehl, Bryson, and Pustovoytov 2008). clearly, mobile pastoralists had the potential to adapt more quickly to such changes than did people who lived in large nucleated settlements dependent on agriculture. In a fundamental sense, nomadic pastoralism is an adaptation to aridity and uncertainty and, as we shall discuss, to many other potential factors.
World History
