Nomadic mobility, migration, and environmental pressure in Eurasian prehistory

Abstract

This chapter explores the analytical utility in differentiating the practical impacts of mobility from historical processes of migration. Based on an archaeological examination of Holocene mobile pastoralists, the argument is made that mobility is a logistical and social strategy that need not result in cumulative “migratory” shifts of population. Nevertheless, mobility patterns are frequently diverse through time, which can in many cases lead to shifts in population, especially under environmental pressure or cases of resource restriction and isolation. It is in this sense that the ecology of mobility of Eurasian pastoralists holds utility in comparison and juxtaposition with Pleistocene populations who moved into North America.