Brass, M;
(2019)
The Emergence of Mobile Pastoral Elites during the Middle to Late Holocene in the Sahara.
Journal of African Archaeology
, 17
(1)
pp. 53-75.
10.1163/21915784-20190003.
![]() |
Text
Emergence_Saharan_pastoral_elites author version.docx - Accepted Version Download (115kB) |
Abstract
Different emphases on ideological, socio-economic and technological changes have been brought to bear on the cultural variability made materially manifest in pre-Iron Age Saharan pastoral societies. The models have ranged from limited or no complexity before iron production to transient mobile elites across the Sahara, to socially complex communities from the mid-Holocene onwards in the Central Libyan Sahara, and to permanent elites with complex social structures. Here, ethnographic cultural variability is stressed, previous models detailed, and data for the Eastern and Central Sahara summarised and analysed. The emerging picture is of a mosaic of population movements, clustering and experimentation resulting in transient peaks of wealth and the potential for incipient social complexity to become temporarily or permanently manifest. Saharan social diversity serves as a warning against linear models and highlights the importance of an explanatory framework for investigating the evolution of social structures outside of permanently settled communities for North Africa.
Type: | Article |
---|---|
Title: | The Emergence of Mobile Pastoral Elites during the Middle to Late Holocene in the Sahara |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1163/21915784-20190003 |
Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1163/21915784-20190003 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
Keywords: | Pastoralism; Sahara; mobile elites; social complexity; North Africa |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Institute of Archaeology |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10087021 |
Archive Staff Only
![]() |
View Item |