Revision:More on Nomadic Societies

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Mobility restricts "baggage" or material goods. Bows and arrows, perhaps a spear javelin, or in some areas throwing sticks or clubs, are the only weapons.

Camps are small and impermanent. The nuclear family often camps near related families, and usually this group forms the patrilineal extended family. The size of the camp depends on the season- in times of easily gathered plant food, large groups may come together for ceremonies such as puberty rites.

Each patrilineal group tends to have the rights to a particular area, and marriages are arranged between groups in such a way that neighbouring lineages are related. This is the only organising principle which extends beyond the band.

Males are regarded as superior, the elders respected for their wisdom, people of the same genetic relationship (such as cousins) divided into "marriageable" or "non-marriageable", with different rules of behaviour towards them, but in all other aspects hunting-gathering cultures are profoundly egalitarian.

There is no system of formal authority. Social order is maintained by stressing correct behaviour ñ etiquette- and by ritual and ceremony. Ceremonies bring together the scattered members of the tribe, and increase solidarity.

Vocabulary

• Transhumance- a pastoral way of life in which people move with their herds according to the seasons.
• Subsistence- all the ways in which people get the things they need to subsist.
• Sedentary- inhabiting the same locality for long periods of time.

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