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The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia pp 237–250Cite as

Southern Arabia’s Early Pastoral Population History: Some Recent Evidence

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Part of the book series: Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology ((VERT))

Abstract

Across the arid expanses of the Arabian peninsula and even at the margins of its limited upland farmlands in Northern Yemen and the Asir, pastoralism has proved an enduring and effective economic strategy through the later Holocene. Goats, camels, and cattle are the principal herd animals, with mixed strategies of goats and sheep, goats and camels, and to a lesser extent cattle and goats. Strategies have changed through time and across geographic and socio-political territories with the herding of particular animals such as cattle or camels conferring not only specific economic benefits and constraints but also playing significant roles in the establishing and differentiation of people’s social identities and statuses. While it is not entirely clear when a fully pastoral commitment, that is, one that emphasized production of secondary animal products, appeared in Arabia, it is evident that there long remained groups with partial economic dependence on herd animals and still exploiting the rich interior game (e.g., gazelle, ibex) and coastal-estuarine resources (principally fish and shellfish). To the important questions of when and from where domesticated animals entered the Arabian peninsula therefore must be added the question of what constitutes a transition to true pastoralism in the ancient Arabian record. With new evidence from Southern Arabia, it is now possible to address these issues there.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank first and foremost the RASA team for their field and laboratory labors. We are especially indebted to Rick Oches, Abdalaziz Bin ‘Aqil, Remy Crassard, Mike Harrower, Catherine Heyne, and Lisa Usman, upon whose hard work this chapter greatly depends. We thank the General Organization of Antiquities and Museums in Yemen under the direction of Youssef Abdulla and of Abdallah BaWazir and the American Institute for Yemeni Studies with Resident Director Chris Edens. Research was sponsored principally by the US National Science Foundation (Grant numbers BSC 0211497, BSC 0624268) although the views expressed here are those of the authors. The RASA team has also gratefully accepted very generous logistical support from Canadian Nexen Petroleum Yemen and Yemen’s military forces and patient hospitality from the Bayt Al-Aly bedouin in Wadi Sana. Thanks go to Jen Everhart for illustrations and editorial assistance. We also acknowledge the Arizona AMS facility for radiocarbon dates and our home institutions The Ohio State University and University College London for research support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, 4034 Smith Labs, 174 W 18th Ave, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Joy McCorriston

  2. Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, UK

    Louise Martin

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  1. Joy McCorriston
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Correspondence to Joy McCorriston .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Leverhulme Centre for Human, University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street 13A, Cambridge, CB2 1QH, United Kingdom

    Michael D. Petraglia

  2. Dept. Anthropology & Geography, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, OX3 0BP, United Kingdom

    Jeffrey I. Rose

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McCorriston, J., Martin, L. (2010). Southern Arabia’s Early Pastoral Population History: Some Recent Evidence. In: Petraglia, M., Rose, J. (eds) The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2719-1_17

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