Pastoralism and the Archaeological Record

The study of archaeology is the study of human history through our material past, such as our

homes, tools, food remains, jewelry, and even our own bodies. Thus, when one or more of these objects

are missing, it becomes exponentially more difficult to completely illustrate the lifeways of humans in the

past. In the case of pastoralism, almost no remnants of human activity are left behind, making

archaeological interpretations extremely difficult. This “leave no trace” lifestyle is illustrated in the 1925

film Grass, which depicts the 48-day journey of the pastoralist tribe known as the Baba Achmadi from

the Persian Gulf to the valleys of Iran in the early 20 th century. The tribe is incredibly mobile, staying only

in an area long enough for their herds to deplete the wild food resources before packing up and venturing

to greener pastures. This means that no permanent structures or dwellings are constructed, with tribal

members instead utilizing textile tents that can be rapidly packed if the need of movement arises.

Ceramics are also absent, as textile bags and carrying packs predominate the storage niche. As with most

mobile groups, ground stone, specifically grinders, are also missing. Even when materials are left behind,

the geography and climate of the area are so harsh that most anything would eventually be washed far

away from their contexts. Favored trails and campsites cut through steep, rugged, and frozen

mountainsides, as well as through deep valleys that habitually flood with torrential downpours.

Although most materials utilized by the Baba Achmadi are perishable, such as their cotton textile

clothes, there are still material remains that potentially could survive, given fair treatment from the

elements. As the tribe subsists on their herd, butchering areas could be a key identifier of pastoral

activities. Burnt faunal bones and broken lithic tools would dominate the archaeological record at these

types of sites, although in very minute numbers, as campsites apart from herding areas were usually

utilized for a single night. However, these sites would be in very difficult to reach locations, such as on

high mountain precipices in the middle of the range. Therefore, the actual identification and location of

these sites would be extremely arduous, warranting very few of them to be found. On the other hand, the

main herding campsites could warrant better discovery, as they are habituated for longer than a single
night and their locations are typically in vast, fertile, and gentle valleys. However, these site types are

very few and far between, with massive landforms and other environmental factors between them,

causing them to be difficult to connect to any other sites based on geography. Therefore, although

pastoral societies do indeed leave behind some evidence of their presence in areas in which they had

inhabited, a great majority of their material culture is perishable. Even with the minority permanent

materials, the terrain and climatic conditions of the area work together to erode context and create

difficulties in spatially locating the sites, leaving many pastoral remnants both destroyed and unlocatable.