Unit 3 - Lesson 5: Who Were the Nomadic Pastoralists and

How Did They Live?

Big Ideas of the Lesson
Not all people settled and lived in agricultural civilizations during Era 2. Some people, in
particular pastoral nomads, lived in geographic areas that did not support farming and large
concentrations of people.

Pastoral people developed a distinct way of life that included herding animals and moving to
find grazing land for their herds. Pastoral nomads depended upon their animals for their
livelihoods, using them to meet a range of needs including food, clothing, and transportation.

Nomadic peoples moved from place to place and interacted with settled farmers, spreading
technology/ideas/goods between civilizations, and occasionally raiding/attacking settled
areas.

Nomadic people generally did not leave their own written records, but accounts of them exist
in the records of settled, agrarian societies. These accounts generally only offer the
agrarian perspective of nomads.

Lesson Abstract:
In this lesson students explore the life ways of people, in particular pastoral nomads, who lived
outside of the agrarian civilizations during Era 2. Students read an overview account of pastoral
nomads and analyze the role that geography and natural resources played in the shaping this way
of life. They next focus on the primary animals that different groups of pastoral nomads used, and
analyze the resources provided by these animals. After students examine a document set to learn
more about the lives of pastoral nomads, they take a critical, historical stance in document
analysis. As pastoral nomads did not leave written records of their own lives, we have to read
about them through texts created by people living in agrarian communities. Students consider the
complexities of doing this and analyze the sources and biases in the document set. Finally,
students read secondary accounts of the interactions between nomadic and farming societies and
generate conclusions about the reasons for and impact of these interactions.
Key Concepts
conflict and cooperation
cultural diffusion
evidence
nomadic pastoralism
technology
Content Expectations1:

7 th Grade H1.2.1; H1.2.2; H1.2.3; H1.4.1; G 4.4.1

7th Grade: W 2.1.1; W2.1.6;

Common Core State Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies: RH.6-8.1, 2, 4, 6, and
7; WHST.6-8.9; SL.6-8.4

1 The language of the content expectations can be found in the Reference Section at the end of the lesson.