Ancient Mesopotamian Animal Herding
What role did pastoralists, nomadic pastoralists in particular, play in ancient Mesopotamian society? In my opinion, ancient Mesopotamian pastoralists and nomadic pastoralists did not have just one role. Their place in society was diverse and changed depending on the time and place. This is clear from both archaeological and textual evidence from periods like the third and second millennia BCE and from places like Ur and Mari. Sometimes they are portrayed as closely integrated with urban society, and other times as completely separate from it. Despite their changing status, what does appear constant is the sense of separateness that existed between pastoralist (especially nomadic pastoralists) and sedentary agriculturalists. The latter were the ones who left most of the evidence we see in the archaeological record and produced texts, all of which show that sedentists regard themselves as different from pastoralists, specifically as more civilize...