The Origins of Specialized Nomadic Pastoralism: A Systemic Model

Author(s): Susan H. Lees and Daniel G. Bates

Source: American Antiquity, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Apr., 1974), pp. 187-193
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/279581
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 THE ORIGINS OF SPECIALIZED NOMADIC PASTORALISM:
A SYSTEMIC MODEL

SUSAN H. LEES
DANIEL G. BATES

ABSTRACT

A model is presented which describes the transition from mixed rainfall-dependent agriculture
husbandry to specialized modes of production based upon irrigated agriculture and nomadic pasto
model emphasizes selective pressures for mixed farming before irrigation agriculture had expande
alluvial zones of Mesopotamia, and selective pressures for specialization after irrigation agriculture
established in that zone. It goes on to describe dynamic interaction between specialized groups
specialization has become institutionalized.

Department of Anthropology
Hunter College, CUNY
May, 1973

THE IMPORTANCE OF nomadic pastoralism in the rise and fall of ancient Ol

civilizations has come under increasing scrutiny by archaeologists today. Archaeologic
indicates that the process of domestication of plants and animals occurred in conjunctio
the earliest food producers practiced mixed farming (Flannery 1965:1247-1256; Hole,
and Neely 1969; Reed 1971:432450; Flannery 1969:73-100). Specialized nomadic pa
which requires grain inputs from external sources, apparently was a later development
to ask, then, what were the selective pressures which led to such specialization? When
in relation to other events; why did it not occur sooner; and why did it occur where it
Though there is still little archaeological evidence to confirm one view or another,
analysis of the effects of certain agricultural practices suggests some likely possibilit
basis of this type of analysis, we may formulate a hypothesis concerning systemic re
between agricultural and animal husbandry practices. This should prove useful in poin
time periods and locales in which data relating to the establishment of nomadic pasto
specialization, could most profitably be sought.
Our hypothesis, most briefly stated, is that there was a direct relationship be
development of nomadic pastoralism as a specialization involving substantial populatio
development of canal irrigation. In our model of this relationship, we see selective pr
specialization in nomadic pastoralism arising from the practice of canal irrigation as a t
agricultural intensification. Although it is very probable that some degree of nomadic
predates canal irrigation in the Near East and elsewhere, our hypothesis would be uns
the expansion of highly specialized nomadic pastoral populations were not in some me
way associated with the expansion of irrigation agriculture. The remainder of this pape
this hypothesis explicit. Though we base our model upon material from the Near East,
that it is more or less applicable in other areas of the Old World, such as China, wher
specializations also evolved.
Throughout most of the area for which early agricultural sites are known in the N
rainfall tends to be seasonal, variable, and often sparse. Agricultural production in se
arid lands tends to be an annually uncertain undertaking, for the critical variabl
productivity is water. Dependence upon rainfall alone would require that aggreg
187

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188 ameRican antiquity [Vol. 39, No. 2, 1974

populations be relatively small and settlements be scattered. As in systems studied today, in similar
settings, these populations would have had recourse to alternative means of subsistence in years of
drought or other natural disaster such as locust plagues and the like. There is strong selection her
for systems utilizing not only a mix of crops, but also combinations of domestic animals. Though
it is difficult to evaluate accurately the day-to-day dietary significance of animals in such systems
it seems reasonable to assume that one important function of domesticated animals (as opposed to
wild species also present) was to minimize the effects of environmental unpredictability through
the conversion of human labor and possibly agricultural products into stored energy. The most
significant aspect of domestic animals is that they, unlike their wild counterparts, constitute
capital, in that they are bred, herded, and their products converted to a useful form, through
investment of human energy. The energy involved in these conversion and storage processe
includes agricultural foodstuffs required by the human population which cares for the animals, as
well as energy expended directly in their care. In some cases it may also include such agricultural
by-products as grain stubble which are eaten by the animals.
Since the areas where rainfall is sufficient for agriculture are also in or near zones of natura
pasture, we would assume little difficulty in labor allocation between the 2 modes of production
(agricultural and pastoral) in such areas. Here, a high degree of sedentary or short-rang
transhumant pastoralism is feasible. In fact, it would appear to be quite advantageous. Whil
pastoral husbandry, like agriculture, is subject to environmental hazards, it allows for some
avoidance of risk under certain conditions. Unlike planted crops, herds can be moved to more
favorable areas in times of local drought or other disaster. The mobility of this form of capital
lends it a greater degree of flexibility and hence confers a certain margin of safety for the human
population relying upon it. The degree of general responsiveness of this domesticated resource to
environmental variables can be further adjusted through choice of animal species, herd sex-age
structure, and mixes of different species. Whether viewed from the perspective of a predominantly
pastoral population or one relying most heavily on agriculture, the advantage of stability or
responsiveness offered by a diversified resource base is great. In any given year, the probability of a
disasterously low yield in all sectors of a mixed economy is significantly lower than it would be in
an economy based on a single mode of production.
However, reliance by a single household upon both an immobile and a mobile means of
subsistence could potentially present certain difficulties. Where production demands relatively
little labor and where the periodic labor demands of either sector are not in conflict, household
units may fragment during part of the year. One segment of the household may tend the herds,
while the other tends the fields. This is a common practice among a number of populations
considered as primarily pastoralist in the Near East and sub-Saharan Africa, and is the usual
approach to animal husbandry in rainfall-dependent agricultural villages.
We should make it clear that our approach to nomadic pastoralism is not "ideal typical."
Rather, the extent to which the adaptation of a population involves either nomadism or
pastoralism is seen as variable. Here we present evidence for selection limiting the extent of
extractive reliance on pastoralism where mixed farming is feasible. Further selective pressure for
generalized productive systems might well arise from the fact that highly specialized systems are
particularly vulnerable where there is no overarching political structure to mediate exchange (Bates
1971:109-131). Dyson-Hudson (1972:1-29) gives an excellent discussion of nomadic pastoralism
in an ecological perspective.
Given the advantages of a diversified resource base, why would populations become completely
or almost completely specialized in pastoral production? Why are not systems of mixed herding
and farming such as that of the Cyrennaican Bedouin universal in the Near East? As long as
rainfall-dependent agriculture with low labor requirements is predominant, it is unlikely that such
specializations would systematically occur. The practice of canal irrigation, however, alters the

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Lees and Bates] SPECIALIZED NOMADIC PA STORA LISM 189

scene entirely, as we shall explain. But until this practice became important, selective pre
would favor mixed farming.
In conditions of sparse and unpredictable rainfall, canal irrigation can be seen as an alter
strategy for reducing the pressures of agricultural uncertainty. Where riverine water sources a
deeply incised below adjacent lands or flow above the floodplain, small-scale diversi
irrigation is possible with simple technology, and might leave some traces in the archaeo
record. It is reasonable to assume, however, that irrigation began during the period when
farming was predominant, and made possible the expansion of agricultural populations in t
arid zones.

The labor requirements of irrigated agriculture are greater than those of rainfall-dependent
agriculture. Not only must canals be excavated, cleaned, and maintained, water-flow must be
regulated and allocated among fields and households; it may be necessary to guard against stealing
water and malicious destruction by hostile competitors. These labor requirements are added to the
usual labor of field preparation, planting, weeding, and harvesting.
Intensification of the agricultural process through increased labor input, particularly via
irrigation, was rewarded in many cases by increased productive output and a greater margin of
safety in at least 2 respects: (1) irrigation, as has been pointed out, diminishes the adverse
consequences of water scarcity in years of low rainfall; and (2) higher productivity enables local
populations to store a greater proportion of harvest for later use in unproductive years.
The practice of canal irrigation, while potentially increasing the margin of safety in agricultural
production and thereby permitting a population increase, presented, under certain conditions,
obstacles to the continued practice of pastoral husbandry. These difficulties, we suggest,
contributed to selective pressure for increased specialization by community segments, most likely
household units, in nomadic pastoralism. These can be concisely stated as follows:
(1) As irrigation became increasingly prevalent, agricultural communities became spatially
distributed in different patterns. Part of this involved the extension of settlements into regions
where substantial agriculture had hitherto been unfeasible. These areas, such as the arid alluvial
plains, are physically farther removed from the best summer grazing areas, which also tend to be
the better-watered ones. This forced populations maintaining animals to move them greater
distances in order to keep herds on adequate grazing land. This would be true whether the herds
were taken to mountain pastures to which the population may have maintained traditional rights,
or whether they were moved over sparser grazing in the plains. In any event, it is likely that under
these conditions, any herding activity entailed greater movement. Not only would this type of
movement entail heavier demands on herdsmen, but we can assume that then, as now,
domesticated animals were particularly vulnerable to natural predators. When domesticated
animals are taken farther from human settlements, human defenses against these predators require
more manpower. This would have been a more serious problem before the introduction of
firearms, but it remains, nevertheless, a problem today. Predation involved not only animal
carnivores but, most likely, human predators seeking to steal herd animals as well.
(2) Increased population density commonly associated with irrigation agriculture, as
documented by Smith and Young (1972), decreases the number of animals per capita that can be
grazed locally without feeding them crops. The latter alternative is an inefficient use of land
resources unless the animals supported are vital for traction. Therefore, there is considerable
pressure for such other animal production as may be incorporated in an irrigation economy to
utilize wild grasses on nonirrigated or fallow land.
(3) Increased labor requirements of irrigated agriculture reduced the mobility of the household
unit. In arid alluvial valley zones, during the drier parts of the year, herds had to be taken to more
distant pasture lands. But at the same time there was also a need for laborers for agricultural
processes such as canal maintenance and field preparation. This conflict of labor requirements may

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190 ameRican antiquity [Vol. 39, No. 2, 1974

underlie initial household specialization, perhaps by certain segments of the community, in

pastoral nomadism, while other segments specialized in agricultural production.
As a consequence, there is strong encouragement for organizing the pastoral sector of the local
economy into more clearly specialized social segments of the population, as opposed to individuals
simply allocating domestic labor between fields and herds on a seasonal basis. The latter approach,
while feasible and common in most mixed farming systems, involves conflicting allocations of land
and labor in most specialized irrigation systems.
The problem of conflict of interest should account for selective pressures for social and
economic bifurcation, given both irrigated agriculture and large-scale animal husbandry. The
specification of such selective pressures, and related assumptions, distinguishes this hypothesis for
the origins of specialized nomadic pastoralism from simple speculation about what possible
constellation of unique events could have led up to it. But, in and of itself, the problem of labor
allocation does not fully explain the dynamics of the relationship between irrigation agricultural
populations and nomadic pastoralists. Robert Adams (1973) presents a model similar to that
offered here in which he shows the dynamic interaction between pastoralism and irrigation
agriculture, with the former subsistence mode becoming increasingly important as agricultural
yields decline in Mesopotamia. Lattimore (1962) presents a different, but related, model for this
relationship in China. Lees (1972) discusses the problem of diminishing returns in small-scale
irrigation systems.
Once established, irrigation agriculture in arid alluvial valley zones has its hazards, some of these
being specific to irrigation itself. In Mesopotamia, many of these hazards are well-known, and
others, less well understood, are currently being explored. For example, application of riverine
waters to cultivated land may promote higher salinity levels which reduce soil productivity. Even
relatively small-scale systems may have salinity problems. Gravity flow irrigation, even on a small
scale (likely one of the earliest forms of irrigation here), for example, often leads to salinization of
lands closest to the water source (Fernea 1970). Though we have evidence of major salinization in
later times (Walters 1970), we do not yet know when or where such problems may have occurred
in earlier smaller-scale systems in this region, nor what the responses may have been initially. Other
problems resulting from the introduction or expansion of irrigation systems in the Near East
include expansion of insect pest populations and increases in weed growth.
One response to a decrease in fertility of soils caused by salinization or similar problems is to
bring lands farther from the water source under cultivation to supplement reduced productivity
from fields used earlier. Irrigating these more remote areas requires building more extensive canals.
It is also well known that canals from riverine sources tend to silt up seasonally (Jacobsen and
Adams 1958; Fernea 1970). The larger canals require increasing inputs of labor for cleaning and
maintenance. Other problems associated with bringing new lands under irrigation, such as increases
in weeds and the necessity for guarding hydraulic facilities, also require attention. As the use of
irrigation for agriculture proceeds through time, its productivity in terms of labor input decreases,
while demands for energy investment increase. At a certain point, varying with specific local
environmental conditions, the balance between labor input and agricultural output for the human
population becomes unfavorable. Beyond this point, we hypothesize, larger and larger segments of
the human population will turn to alternative means of subsistence.
One obvious and simple alternative is that of specialized nomadic pastoralism (Adams 1973;
Lattimore 1962:53-73). Earlier systemic models of the dynamic relationship between nomadic
pastoralism and agricultural modes of production include those by Ibn Khaldun and Malthus. The
nomadic pastoral means of subsistence was already available and well known; its promise of
rewards was clear. Nomadic pastoralism is notably responsive to inputs of labor, enabling herd
owners to take advantage of the reproductive potential of the species husbanded. Studies of
modern pastoralist populations have shown a very close correlation between the amount of labor

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Lees and Bates] SPECIALIZED NOMADIC PASTORA LISM 191

available in a household and the amount of productivity in the form of animals herded (B
1961; Irons 1969; Bates 1973). The attractions of the nomadic pastoral alternative b
stronger, of course, as irrigated agriculture becomes more difficult. For example, among g
the Sudan, when potential for reinvestment in the agricultural sector decreases, individuals
capital to the nomadic pastoral sector even though this entails a shift in ethnic identity (
1969:59-73).
However, highly specialized nomadic pastoralists are not, as they are often port
self-sustaining economic units. A large part of their subsistence base consists of plan
provided through trade with sedentary agriculturalists. Though perhaps even the majority
Eastern pastoralists practice limited agriculture, most also depend heavily upon sede
populations to provide their plant foods and other necessities. Irrigation agriculture allow
more people to acquire plant foods by indirect means. This, of course, greatly increa
carrying capacity of the arid zone with respect to specialists in pastoralism. In fact, the nic
specialized pastoralism is predicated upon the existence of accessible foodstuffs prov
agricultural populations. The very existence, however, of politically discrete and pote
predatory nomadic pastoral populations raises the "overhead" costs of agriculture in conti
regions, and thereby limits production.
These sedentary populations are linked with the nomadic pastoralists with whom they ex
goods in a number of ways. Initially, as in many parts of the Near East today, pastoralist
agriculturalists probably were linked by ties of kinship or trade partnership. Villagers w
turned from agriculture to pastoralism would maintain ties with their farming neighbors oft
several generations. But pastoral nomads would also come into contact with other groups,
with whom they had not established ties of kinship or partnership. Perhaps an early mea
which they obtained access to necessary agricultural products was through the common pra
raiding. Their mobility lent them some military superiority, giving them a very favorable ch
success in this practice-which accounts for its persistence in the Near East through the ag
do not assume this mobility depended on large riding animals, but rather on a mobile resou
consisting probably of small animals, and later, cattle. Subsequent use of mounted animals
military purposes would naturally have enhanced the predatory threat of pastoral pastoral popula
relation not only to sedentary agriculturalists, but also to one another. Irons (1965:393-41
Sweet (1965:1132-1150) have provided analyses of the adaptive significance of raiding
contemporary camel pastoralists.
A second and more complex and risky means of obtaining access to such goods would h
been through "conquest"-threatening destruction or offering "protection" in exchan
tribute in the form of produce. And a third means, possible in areas where peaceful nego
with strangers are assured, is through market exchange of agricultural products for pastor
such as animals, milk, cheese, hides, and so forth. Bates (1971:109-131) provides a
discussion of the dynamics of exchange among farming and nomadic pastoral populations
they are ethnically distinct. Wolf (1951) and Aswad (1963), in analyzing the rise of the Isl
State, both note the important role played by Mecca as a holy area where intertribal and
interspecialist trade could be transacted in peace.
Nomadic pastoral populations are, like sedentary agriculturalists, subject to hazards, involving
problems of control of too many or too few herd animals. Segments of these populations,
similarly, tended to respond to unfavorable balance of energy input to productive output by
resorting to alternative means of subsistence, primarily through sedentarization (Barth 1961).
Processes of shifting from one alternative to another provided a basis for flexibility which, in turn,
allowed for the growth of the population of these areas beyond that permitted by any single mode
of production alone. Expansion of irrigated agriculture, while always possible, led to increased
costs which resulted in a sloughing off and occasional reduction of the sedentary population.

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192 ameRican antiquity [Vol. 39, No. 2, 1974

Expansion of pastoralist endeavors similarly led to periodic sloughing off and ultimate reduction
of the nomadic population. The levels and limits attained by each were a result not only of the
nature of their resources and local environments, but of the existence and availability of alternate
strategies for subsistence.
Having presented our hypothesis, it seems profitable to briefly contrast it with an alternative
approach which also goes some way in accounting for the rise of pastoral specializations. It has
occurred to us, and has also been suggested by Irons (personal communication), that, given
conditions of population pressure on resources, there is selection for techniques of production
which have high per hectare yields. This would mean that in a mixed economy there would be
inducement to emphasize the agricultural component at the expense of livestock production. The
outcome of such selective pressure with its concomitantly greater emphasis on grain would
increase the relative demand for animal products. As we have suggested earlier, this establishes a
niche for specialists in adjacent nonarable regions who can provide pastoralist products to the
agricultural population through exchange for grains. As Irons has noted (personal communication),
such regions might earlier have supported subsistence pastoralists, but once exchange-oriented
pastoralism is possible it will occur and eventually predominate because it can easily support a
denser population, giving it a military edge in any competition with subsistence pastoralism.
This model, like ours, predicts a strong correlation between the development of intensive
agricultural systems and specialized nomadic pastoralism. It is possible that 1 source of selective
pressure for such specialization does lie in the processes suggested by this model. However, it
assumes that selection favors specialization in local systems, largely because it allows for increases
in population, and does not weigh ths against the selective advantages of diversified modes of
production in habitat t s of unpredictability. Our model takes into account the costs
of specialization as well as its selective advantages, and specifies the conditions under which the
transition from a diversified economy would likely occur.
We suggest, then, that selection for specialized nomadic pastoralism began in association with
increased labor requirements of irrigated agriculture and the consequent conflict of interests
related to land and labor use in alluvial zones. Its growth was due to the hazards of irrigation
agriculture through time. We further suggest that feedback cycles partially regulated the extent of
expansion and duration of growth of these 2 subsistence specializations, which were systemically
linked to one another. We suggest a correlation between variables which should be detectable
through analysis of settlement patterns, irrigation facilities, and the faunal record. Hopefully, our
model, wther confirmed or disconfirmed or disconfirmed by the archaeological record, will stimulate further
discussion of the development of complex systems of land use.

Acknowledgments. A debt of gratitude is owed to Richard Blanton, Daniel Gross, Carol Hamlin, John
Pfeiffer, John Speth, and especially Gregory Johnson, William Irons, and Christofer Hamlin, for reading and
helpfully commenting upon an earlier draft of this paper.

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