Finkelstein, I. 1992. Pastoralism in the Highlands of Canaan in the Third and Second Millennia B.C.E., in O. Bar Yosef and A. Khazanov (eds.), Pastoralism in the Levant: Archaeological Materials in Anthropological Perspective, Madison: 133-142. (original) (raw)

1992, Pastoralism in the Levant: Archaeological Materials in Anthropological Perspective,

Bethel-Shechem axis (Matthews 1981); Egyptian sources, especially the Amarna archives, speak of Shasu grouPs, many of them most probably pastoralists, operating in many regions of the southern Levant, including the fertile parts of Canaan (Giveon l97L;Ward1972') (for the first comprehensive treatment of pastoral nomadism in the highlands of Canaan, see Alt 1939). 133 734 Pastoralism in the Leoant General Remarks Following are a few introductory remarks' which are imperaiive for reconstructing the role of the ;;#"f ;;;Pt t" the history of the "green" parts of the country. '^-1rr" anJient Near Eastern society is often described ,, ;;i;*phic" (Rowton 197 6a, ig7 eb, 197 6c, L977), consisting^of two components-the sedentary and jh9 nomadic. Flowever, rlcent studies have shown that the social stmcture was aPParently far more complex' ilh;;;;;i possible so"io-""ot"tomic situations along the sedentary-nomadic continuum-sedentary urban' ;;;i;"y riral, agro-pastoralists' pastoralists who ensaqe in occasional igricultural activity' nomads,' il:;iil; L;;h"'s dehnition of a "polvmorPhgy:" ;;;t*y iirss:198) is preferable' IrY:,t a flexible ;i6r, which could ^easily and rapid,ly adiust to changing economrc and potiticlt c,olfitions' The ;;;;"?#"y between the different subsistence shateoies was open to movements in both directions 1;;i;;;r;'v p"oprt could shift to nomadism and "o-uat.ord r"til" do*" in response to changes in tit"-".o"o*ic, political or environmental conditions i;;;;;it [iai to, the instructive example of Syria u"J Iotaut in the last two centuries)' Needless to say, the sedentaryPPpt" of the ancient Nea, gast raised iiocks, so part of the rural population was always engaged in heiaing' In this paper the term ;';;;;iitts" ief[rs to groups who subsist mainly on animal husbandry.