Pastoral Transhumance in the Southern Balkans as a Social Ideology: Ethnoarcheological

Research in Northern Greece

Author(s): Claudia Chang
Source: American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 95, No. 3, (Sep., 1993), pp. 687-703
Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Anthropological Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/679657
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ResearchRzport
PastoralTrsn.shtlmancein the
SouffiernBaLkansas a Social
Ideology:Ethnoarcheological
Researchin Northern Greece
CLAUDLA
CHANG
Departmentof Anthropologyand Sociology
SweetBriar College
Transhumance is a common form of
pastoral economic and social organiza-
tion in which flocks or herds move long
distances twice yearly between upland
summer pastures and lowland winter pas-
tures. In Mediterranean Europe, pastoral
transhumance has been identified his-
torically and ethnographically; it ranged
from the 13th- to l9th-century state-spon-
sored Mesta, an organization that pro-
duced merino wool for national and
international markets in Castilian Spain
(Braudel 1949), to ethnic enclaves like
the contemporary Koutsovlachl (Arou-
mani-speaking) pastoralists of the Bal-
kans, who engage in activities such as
sheepherding, muleteering, and trading
(Nandris 1990). In the Balkans, pastoral
transhumance practiced by the Kout-
sovlach, Sarakatsani, and other ethnic
groups has captured the interest of an-
thropologists and folklorists throughout
the 20th century (Campbell 1964; Schein
1974; Wace and Thompson 1914). In this
report I examine the economic basis, ma-
terial culture, and cultural ideology of
pastoral transhumance in the Grevena
Region of Northern Greece, an area well
known for Koutsovlach transhumance
and pastoral brigandage. Specifically I
suggest that pastoral transhumance, an
economically inspired strategy, is also
embodied in the cultural ideology of
Koutsovlach ethnic and social identity. In
other regions of the world, notably suS
AmericanAnthropologist
95(3-):687-703. Copyright i) 1993, American Anthropological Association.
Saharan Africa and the Near East, an-
thropologists have written about the eco-
nomic and ecological nature of
long-distance transhumant pastoralism
(Ingold 1987). Here I wish to examine
the ways in which the economic forces of
pastoral mobility are inseparable from
social and ideological forces. While this
is hardly a revolutionary insight, when
applied to the analysis of discussions or
prehistoric pastoralism, it does modify
many of the incomplete and speculative
models presented by prehistoric arche-
ologists on the evolution of pastoral sys-
tems.
My specific aim, however, is to address
more general theoretical issues pertain-
ing to Grevena pastoral transhumance
and agropastoralism that may be used to
formulate useful analogies between his-
torical and prehistoric pastoral produc-
tion systems. I argue that if pastoral
transhumance can now be understood as
much more than an ecological or eco-
nomic strategy for historic and contem-
porary Koutsovlach upland settlement,
Mediterranean archeologists must in
turn evaluate the evolutionary and eco-
logical models they have used for ex-
plaining the origins and development of
specialized pastoral systems from Neo-
lithic through Bronze Age Periods.
When the ethnoarcheological survey
of modern pastoral sites in the mountain-
ous Pindos region of Northern Greece
was first initiated in 1988, my main objec-
tive was to outline the economic and
ecological limits of two strategies of pas-
toral production sedentary village
herding and seasonal longZistance tran-
shumance (Chang 1992). Myassumption
was simple; if I could demonstrate the
ecological and economic limitations of
these two systems of pastoral production
in the modern material record, then
687
 688 AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST
these data could be used for developing
research methods for the archeological
surveyof pastoralism(cf. Nandris1985).
During the first two field seasons of
ethnoarcheologicalresearchin the East-
ern Pindos Mountainsat elevations of
900 to 1500 meters, it became increas-
ingly apparent that funds and develop-
ment assistance from the European
EconomicCommunity(EEC)had drasti-
cally altered the pastorallandscape of
Northern Greece. Shepherdsand goat-
herds were able to afford small pickup
trucks for daily transportationto their
mountain stanes (corrals and encamp-
ments). The developmentof infrastruc-
ture in upland areasof Grevenasuch as
paved roads,concreteloading platforms
for trucktransportof livestockseasonally
to the high mountainpastures,concrete
watering troughs, and concrete animal
sheltershad changedtraditionalherding
practicesand pastoralmaterialculture.
The famous Koutsovlachand Kupat-
shari herdersof the High Pindos of the
GrevenaPrefectureof NorthernGreece,
as documented byWaceand Thompson
(1914) and Sivignon (1968) before
Greece's 1982 entry into the EEC, no
longer representeda "pristine," precapi-
talistpastoralproductionsystem.In what
wayshad the modernGreeknation-state
and the agriculturalpolicies of the EEC
affectedpastoralmobilityin the uplands
of NorthernGreece?Along a similartra-
jectory,was specialized pastoralism in
prehistoricand historicperiodsoften en-
couragedand supportedby statepolicy?
In attempting to bridge the gap be-
tweenthe modern context of EE(;spon-
sored pastoralismamong the Koutso-
vlach and their neighbors and prehis-
toricpastoralproduction systems,I be-
gan to explore ethnographicaccounts,
oralhistories,and other historicalmate-
rialsof Koutsovlachpastoralismin this
regionduring the 18th and l9th centu-
ries. Historically, the Koutsovlach or
Aroumani-speaking herdersof the High
PindosMountainswere an ethnic group
incorporatedin the OttomanEmpireso
asto fulfill occupationalroles of mule-
teers,traders,woodcutters,and herders.
Asan ethnic group within the Ottoman
[95,1993]
miUet system,theylayat the geographical
fringesand peripheriesof urbancenters,
often in the inaccessible mountain re-
gions (Schein 1974:93).Their identityas
transhumantpastoralistsappearedto be
tied to the perpetuationof their ethnic-
ity. Social and political practices,often
recorded in the form of folkloric ac-
countsof Koutsovlachlife, servedto rein-
force regionaland nationalperceptions
that the Koutsovlachor Aroumaniwere
distinct from other Greek populations
and held a specialplacein modernGreek
history (Nandris 1985, 1990; Schein
1974). Afterthe demise of Ottomanrule
in the beginningof the 20th century,the
Koutsovlachcontinued to perpetuate a
separateethnic identitywithin the con-
text of the modern Greeknation-state.
Transhumantpastoralism,or the long-
distance movement between two fixed
residences the high mountains in the
summer and the lowland plains in the
winter was an outward expression of
the continuationof Koutsovlachidentity
despite the period of destruction and
depopulation of mountain villagesdur-
ing World War II and the subsequent
GreekCivilWarof 194849. The histori-
cal and ethnographicbackgroundof the
Koutsovlachof Northern Greece cou-
pled with an evaluationof their contem-
porarysituationvis-a-visthe practice of
long-distance, seasonal transhumance
became the context for the ethnoar-
cheological research on which this re-
portis based.
In the context of Koutsovlachpastoral-
ism,I arguethatthe ideologyof pastoral-
ism as well as its actual practice is
essential to the maintenance of Kout-
sovlachethnicity.Ethnoarcheologicalre-
searchon modernpastoralsitesfromthe
Grevena Region indicates that Kout-
sovlach transhumant pastoralists have
beenreinforcedin theireconomicstrate-
giesby the EECand the modern Greek
nation-state.There are significantnum-
bers of shepherds and goatherds and
some cowherdswho move their flocks
seasonallyto effectivelyutilize different
ecologicalconditions and land use sys-
tems.2 Their dual membershipsin winter
andsummer villagesdefines important
 RESEARCHREPORT
ethnic and sociopolitical universes
through the mech- anisms of livestock
husbandry. Supporting this hypothesis is
the EEC's praciice of providing credit
and subsidies to these transhumant pas-
toralists. Through such payments the
perpetuation of pastoral transhumance
in Grevena has been encouraged, revital-
izing a UtraditionalXform of pastoral pro-
duction.
From an archeological standpoint, this
is an exciting idea because pastoral tran-
shumance appears to be more than a
'resource getting strategy;"it is also de-
fined by the social and cultural relations
that shape both a community's internal
organization and its view of the outside
world. The origins of pastoral transhu-
mance are most often discussed in light
of key environmental and ecological con-
ditions necessary for the maintenance of
a pastoral regime divorced from cultiva-
tion. Yet Khazanov (1984) and Lees and
Bates ( 1974) have suggested that all pas-
toral specializations develop in complex
societies in response to political and so-
cial as well as economic factors. The his-
torical continuity of pastoral trans-
humance in the Pindos Mountains of
Greece illustrates in a modern context
how classic mobility strategies are real-
ized through a set of structural relation-
ships existing between local com-
munities and larger regional and na-
tional contexts. Ethnoarcheological in-
sights on the social and ethnic identity of
pastoralists in the Near East have also
been used to explain the decline of ur-
banization in the Early Bronze Age and
the rebirth of towns in the Middle Bronze
Age in the Levant (Kamp and Yoffee
1980). The ethnoarcheological az
proach to problems of ethnicity, cultural
identity, and collecove representations of
pastoralism allows archeologists to draw
some broad parallels between present-
day contexts and the prehistonc past.
The dynamic nature in which pastoral
specializations emerged during the rise
and collapse of complex societies is prob-
ably best investigated in the recent past
where there is a rich ethnographic and
historical record available to scholars
(Cribb 1990).
689
Perhaps specialized pastoralism in pre-
histoxy was also more than an occupa-
tional specialization. It could have
involved entire communities that trav-
eled between upland and lowland re-
gions establishing multiplex social,
political, and economic networks. Along
these same lines of speculation, it might
also have been possible that social trans-
humance persisted long after the demise
of pastoral specialization. The support of
social transhumance would have come
most likely from regional or national
state-level organizations. In fact, many of
the discussions of enclosed nomadism of
western Asia (Rowton 1973, 1974) draw
parallels between the recent historical
past and the period of the Mari state as
derived from Babylonian texts in which
autonomous pastoral chiefdoms were
fused to sovereign states. The political,
social, and economic structures by which
nomads or transhumants were linked to
the state in the Near East suggests that
the origins and development of special-
ized pastoralism could also have been
tied to the rise of complex societies in
European prehistory (Halstead 1987).
In the Near East,Adams(1981 :13936)
suggests that the semisettled nomads in
"edge zones" away from the Mesopo-
tamian alluvium were part of an ethnic
continuum of rural producers whose mo-
bility provided channels of communica-
tion and integration between urban
centers and rural hinterlands during
early state development. Zagarell (1989)
also rules out the possibility of periodic
nomadic incursions in Mesopotamia as
the cause for state formation. Drawing on
settlement data collected from archeo-
logical surveys in the Bakhtiari region of
the Zagros Mountains, Zagarell presents
an alternative scenario for the evolution
of pastoral specialization in Mesopota-
mia: during the Neolithic period, there
was the development of a mixed herding
and farming economy in the uplands,
and then in the late Chalcolithic period,
larger agricultural settlements were in-
terspersed with small, perhaps mobile
pastoral campsites. This archeological
evidence indicates an actual separation
between highland and lowland econb
690 AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST
mies. Zagarell (1989:300) concludes that
later processes of state formaiion in the
alluvial valleys were not caused by pas-
toral incursions from the highlands;
rather, the highland settlements were
transformed by their relations with cen-
tralized, hierarchically organized low-
land states.
Furthermore, the relationship be-
tween ethnicity and pastoral production
in the modern nation-state has implica-
tions for how anthropologists view pas-
toral production in developing nations.
The ethnic identity of the Koutsovlach
within the Greek nation-state and the
EEC can be compared to the process by
which other pastoral groups have been
incorporated into modern nation-states.
Hjort (1990) discusses Sweden's national
policy concerning the future economic
development of Saami reindeer herders.
The Swedish government is attempting
to grant Saami their own ethnic auton-
omy within the context of a rationalized
pastoral economy, but once they drop
out of herding and thus are unable to be
maintained within a nomadic pastoral
community, the nonherding Saami lose
their ethnic, cultural, and minority rights
(Hjort 1990:28). On the other hand, the
works of Campbell (1964) and Schein
(1974), on which I will build here, pre-
sent cases of ethnic groups of transhu-
mant pastoralists in Greece who main-
tain ethnic identity, and who-specifi-
cally, in the case of the Koutsovlach-are
able to manipulate their position within
the nation-state so as to enhance their
ethnic autonomy. These European cases
also have implications for African pastor-
alism as rationalized within modern na-
tion-states (Hjort 1990).
Ethnographic Background
The awareness of Koutsovlach ethnic-
ity emerged out of the Greek nationalist
movement in the 18th through 20th cen-
turies. Today, the study of ethnicity as it
pertains to Koutsovlach and other recog-
nized ethnic minorities is complicated
by, on the one hand, ethnographic and
folkloric studies that are meant tojustify
the ancient Hellenic roots of Greek cul-
[95,1993]
ture, and, on the other hand, the social
and cultural ideologies of local commu-
nities and ethnic groups, which often
aggressively oppose the dominant Hel-
lenic traditions (Herzield 1985, 1986).
The local community or ethnic group
often stands in direct opposition to the
nationalist ideology, a common dynamic
opposition found in rural Mediterra-
nean society (Campbell 1964; Pitt-Rivers
1954) and elsewhere. In the case of the
Koutsovlach communities of Grevena,
ethnic autonomy and community soli-
darity can be maintained successfully by
local manipulation through patron-cli-
ent relations linking local communities
to the state. Even in the cases when the
nation-state imposes its control from
above and cannot be successfully ma-
nipulated through local patronage, local
ideology becomes an outlet for defend-
ing local values against those of the na-
tion-state. The folkloric image and
stereotype of the Koutsovlach pastoralist,
in this sense, metaphorically sets up the
boundaly of local ethnicity, social mar-
ginality, and opposition to the state.
Schein ( 1974) contests the difference
between Sarakatsani and Koutsovlach
(Aroumani) ethnicity in the neighboring
province of Epirus. During the 18th and
19th centuries, the Koutsovlach main-
tained their ethnicit through language
and their specialized economic role as
traders in the Ottoman millet system. In
the 20th century, this autonomy is car-
ried over through a number of diverse
strategies ansing from this set of histori-
cal circumstances. Schein states:
Aroumanian ethnic identity condenses
multipleexperiencesand meanings non-
Greekness,ecologicaland economic mar-
ginality, unique control of muleteering,
and dominanceof the cheese tradc- and
thus has great but non-specificpotential
uses.It not onlyunitesAroumaniin diverse
contexts, but also connects upper and
lowerclasses Ties of kinshipbetweenemi-
grantsand sedentaryvillagershave always
formed routesalong which passed money
and patronageconnections that could be
used for mobility. Such lines have also
crossed class division because, either
through the few inter-class marriages
whichoccurredor throughfictivekin ties,
 RESEARCHREPORT
the lowerclasscouldmakesmallbut suc-
cessfuleconomicand poliiicalclaimson
theirethnickin.In returnthe upperclass
havebeen assuredsuppliesof milkand
livestock,clients,and potentialpolitical
support." [Schein1974:93]
The stereotypic images of kleMs
(thieves),herders,and muleteersin local
folklore and everydayconversationfuse
the Koutsovlachand Kupatshari(Hel-
lenized Koutsovlach)cultural identities
withthatof nomadicexistence.Perform-
ances of ethnicity and pastoral origins
are readilyidentifiedwithinthe commu-
nity arena of summerpaniyeri (religious
feast days) and aggressive displays of
male solidaritythroughmeat-eatingand
daily conversationalbanter at local cof-
fee shops (cf. Herzfeld 1985). In the Ku-
patsharivillage of Polyneri today, con-
versationalgold among men in their six-
ties and older are storiesof thieveryand
banditry;muleteeringjourneysto the dis-
tant cities of Iannina,Thessaloniki,and
Filiates;and herding. The ethnic differ-
ence between the Koutsovlachand Ku-
patshari villages are expressed in
linguisticterms.Vlachohoria,or the four
famous Koutsovlach villages of Gre-
vena- Samarina,Perivoli, Avdella, and
Smixi are describedas the summervil-
lages of the Koutsovlach,where Arou-
mani is spoken. The Kupatsharivillages
occupyingelevationsof 1,100metersand
lower,are year-roundvillageswhere less
than a quarter of the total population
engages in transhumant pastoralism.
The Kupatshari,whilerecognizingthem-
selves as Greek-speakersand therefore
Hellenized,alsoacknowledgetheirKout-
sovlachorigins.
This kind of social transhumance,like
classicpastoraltranshumance,relies on
fixed settlement in two or more locali-
ties.3Indeed, both the urban and rural
Koutsovlach,who do not engage in pas-
toral aciivitiestoday,migrate seasonally
to an upland villageas a means of main-
tainingcommunityand ethnic solidarity.
Other pastoralgroups, especially those
recently sedentanzed, often practice a
patternof return to the village or settle-
ment of origin as a means of reaffirming
theirethnicityand identityas pastoralists
691
(Salzman 1980). In discussing labor mi-
gration of the Sinai Bedouin, Marx
(1977:40) discusses how lineage solidar-
ity and tribal cohesion among the Bed-
ouin are maintained ritually and socially,
after men leave the tribal territory in
charge of the female household mem-
bers, who tend small flocks and gardens.
A concept of Uhomeland," when fixed
ideologically but realized only pen-
odically in a behavioral sense, poses
structural problems (Salzman 1980:8).
The urban Koutsovlach in his village of
origin faces a similar structural problem;
he identifies with an ZideologicalXhome-
land in the mountains but dwells for the
most part in the lowlands. For shepherds,
the ideology of transhumance fits the
behavioral reality of actual dual resi-
dency.
A Koutsovlach shepherd, when asked
why he preferred his summer residency
in the mountains to his winter lowland
residence, explained his sentiments in
these terms: as much as he preferred the
mountains, the sheep prospered even
more than humans once at their moun-
tain pastures. I took this to mean that not
only do humans prefer the sociability and
conviviality of their mountain communi-
ties, but in a productive and generative
sense, sheep grow" better in the moun-
tains. Yet a shepherd's productive activi-
ties depend on both arenas; the
mountains and the plains offer different
kinds of social relations, productive re-
sources, and possibilities for individual
and group identities. This ideological
view may be similar to the Sinai Bed-
ouin's notion of a shared homeland, kept
physically active through women who
tend gardens and keep flocks, and ideo-
logically and socially viable by missing
men who must find ritual opportunities
to return and assert the moral and social
responsibilities of the bonds of lineage
and tribal solidarity (Marx 1977:40). In
the case of Koutsovlach identity, effective
kinship relations, social networks, pa-
tron-client relations, and pastoral pro-
duction continue to be reasserted and
reaffirmed within the context of the sum-
mer migration to the village of origin.
692 AMERSCANANTHROPOLOGIST
This pattern of urban return to the
rural village of origin is typical through-
out Greece; in the Koutsovlach and Ku-
patshari (Hellenized Koutsovlach) vil-
lages of the Pindos, an overarching em-
phasis is placed on the discursive and
dramatic performances of individuals,
notably men, verbally expressing their
kleftic and pastoral identity. This cultural
ideology is often expressed in terms of
explicit pastoral behavior. The dominant
ideology may serve to emphasize "shared
identity," thus masking the class tensions
that exist between the urban elite who
return for summer holidays and the
shepherds who still practice transhu-
mance. The ritual cycle of religious feasts
and even mourning ceremonies is sched-
uled to coincide as much as possible with
the period of summer transhumance and
return. Even village women explaining
the ritual meaning of Klidonas,4a divina-
tion ritual carried out during St. John's
Day, place the importance of this event
in terms of the transhumant schedule by
noting its occurrence at the time when
all the shepherds have returned to the
mountains from their winter pastures.
The Ethnoarcheological Case
The ethnoarcheological and the mod-
ern material studies of pastoralists in the
Near East have provided a very rich con-
textual background for reconstructing
prehistoric pastoralism (Hole 1978,
1979; Digard 1981) . I shall briefly outline
the results of an ethnoarcheological re-
search project conducted from 1988 to
1992 (Chang 1992; Chang and Tourtel-
lotte 1993). Since the more detailed
analysis of these data has been published
elsewhere, this material is summarized
with particular reference to those points
that further elucidate arguments about
the ecological, economic, and social na-
ture of transhumance.
The pastoral site (corral, enclosure,
fold, or encampment) is an economic
necessity for carrying out herding activi-
ties and a symbolic representation of a
herder's commitment to the pastoral way
of life. Thus, there is a direct connection
between the artifactX of pastoral activi-
[95,1993]
ties and how pastoralists conceptualize
their use of space logistically in terms of
competition over key resources and vis-a-
vis other production systems. The actual
cultural material pattem does not deline-
ate ethnicity, nor even a cultural ideology
as such. The material data only indicate
the presence of different production
zones.
In the eastem Pindos Mountains, the
economic and ecological conditions are
such that pastoralproduction in the three
upland environmental zones ranges from
summer transhumantpastoralism to year-
round village agropastoralism (Koster
1987). Figure 1 illustrates the spatial pat-
teming of pastonl sites and land use in the
first three zones. The upper elevations of
the eastem flanksof the Pindos Mountains
from 1,300 to 1,500 meters (Zone 1) are
the topographic zone for Koutsovlach
summer transhumance and summer set-
tlement. The summer transhumantsfrom
Vlachohorio (the High Pindos) travel to
lowland pastures from 50 meters to 150
kilometers in the plains of Thessaly,
Kozani, and Elassona. In the Lower Pin-
dos Mountains, from 1,000 to 1,300 me-
ters (Zone 2), a group of Kupatshari
(Hellenized Koutsovlachs) engages in
both long-distance transhumance and
settled year-round agropastoralism
(wheat, barley,viticulture, orchards, and
small flocks of sheep and goats). Below
1,000 meters (Zone 3), in the foothills of
the Pindos, year-round agropastoralism
occurs among Kupatshari and some
Turkish groups. The agricultural basin of
Grevena at about 500 meters (Zone 4), is
primarily a wheat, barley, and fodder
area, interspersed with oak woods. Less
pastoral production occurs in this agri-
cultural plain than in the upper three
zones.
Table 1 illustrates 1986 agricultural
census data for each of these six villages
on total land area, land area in pasture,
total number of sheep and goats, and
average number of animals per herder.
The last two columns also report the rela-
tive density of animals per total pasture
and per total area. The two Koutsovlach
villages (Avdella and Perivoli) from Zone
1 (the High Pindos) have larger average
 RESEARCHREPORT 693

KEY
ZONE1 WATER
TROUGH
*HIGH PINDOS t
*UPLAND SUMMER t 1t - ^ Ps
TRANSHUMANCE * $
SUMMER
*NOAGRICULTURE sGRAZING
*AVERAGE FLOCKSIZE
IS 150-160
*HERDERSSTAYATSTANI
A
WINTER
DURING NIGHTORTRAVEL GRAZING
TOVILLAGE EACHEVENING
@
IN FALLOW
ZONE2 ^
AGRICULTURAL

*LOWERPINDOS
aS I v
FIELDS

*UPLANDSUMMER t SUMMER
TRANSHUMANCE 8> aw v STRUNGA
ej
*UPLANDCULTIVATION v-
*VILLAGE < -
STANI te;>
AGRO-PASTORALISM
*AVERAGE FLOCKSIZEIS 100
*MOSTHERDERSSTAY Sv SUMMER
INVILLAGEATNIGHT TRANSHUMANT
SITE -

@ BARNS
ZONE3 & FOLDS
*PINDOSFOOTHILLSiQ
*VILLAGE
AGRO-PASTORALISM
*SUMMER
TRANSHUMANCE 2
'

. :(
I -
VILLAGE

CULTIVATED<
FIELDS tti
WHEATIBARLEY
/FODDER FIELDS
PATCHINESS
OF . g. e 's
CULTIVATION, g . ;gux INTERSPERSED
.

HERDING * w ', AGRICULTURAL

ANDOAKFOREST # : S FIELDS 4-:.:
*AVERAGEFLOCKSIZEIS60 NO SUMMER
*SPATIAL
PACKING
IS TIGHTLYRESTRICTED STRUNGAS
RETURNS TO
*SOMEHERDERSSTAYWITHFLOCKS ATSUMMER VILLAGE J
STRUNGASOR DISTANT WINTERFOLDSATNIGHT AT NIGHT "

A schemadcdrawingshowng pastorallanduse in {hreezones of Grevena,Greece.

694 AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST [95,1993]

Table1
Grevenadata (1986)fromsix villages.

Total
Village
Average Pasture Area
Total Number of Pature Number of Area (ha)
Area in Sheep and Area in Animals (ha) per per
Village Hectares Goats Hectares per Flock Animal Animal
Avdella 43,200 8,425 17,300 191 2.05 5.13
Perivoli 137,200 17,465 32,700 162 1.87 7.86
Lavdas 10,700 1,665 8,100 111 4.86 6.43
Panorama 7,000 1,935 600 129 .36 3.62
Polyneri 10,300 4,422 6,500 159 1.47 2.33
Megaro 24,800 5,578 13,700 59 2.45 4.45

flock numbersthan the other villages.In land pasturethroughuse-rights,rent, or

Zone 2, the villagesof Lavdas,Panorama,
and Polineri show slightlyloweraverage
flock numbers than in Zone 1, but in
Panoramaand Polinerithereis consider-
ablyless pasturearea per animal.These
data indicate a high density and over-
packingof grazinganimalsper unit area.
In both villages we have observed the
effects of overgrazingon pastures.Usu-
ally the naturalgrasslandsappear to be
in poorer condition and show greater
incidence of soil erosion. In Zone 3, the
village of Megarohas a moderate num-
ber of animals per grazing area but a
much loweraverageflocksize. Megarois
an agropastoralvillagewheresheep and
goat husbandryare combined with ce-
real cultivation.
The Decision-Making
ProcessUsed for
SchedulingSeasonalMobilitr
The transhumantherders described
their decisions regarding summer and
winter mobility and the scheduling of
their moves in terms of the following
strategies: (1) if winter pasture in the
plains is difficult to obtain, they will at-
tempt to leave for summerpastures;(2)
if summerpasturebecomes overgrazed,
theywillmove to the lowlandareas.Trans
humantherdersmust establishextensive
socialnetworksforobtainingaccessto low-
labor exchange. Herders rent fallow or
stubble fields for grazing, and also to
obtain fodder in the form of hay and
clover.If a herderowns land in the low-
lands,as do some of the more successful
Koutsovlachherders,he will be less de-
pendent on developingan extensivenet-
work.A transhumantherder,by traveling
to the uplands during the summer
months, also extends the overall lacta-
tion period of his milkinganimalsby a
month or more.Otherimportantconsid-
erationsregardingschedulingand long-
distance movement include when the
herdershould breed his animalsso as to
get maximum off-takeat peak market
periods (Christmas and Easter) and
whetherthe herderwilltravelby truckor
by foot. Those who elect to walk from
upland to lowlandpasturesspend about
two weeks in transit,making daily deci-
sions about where theirflockscan graze.
In Zone 2, wherehistoricallythere has
been a combinaton of both year-round
-biillage
pastoralismand seasonalsummer
transhumance,those who choose to be
transhumantsmusthaveaccessto winter
pasture lands in lowland communities.
Usuallythese landsareobtainedthrough
contractual agreements. Transhumant
flocks are larger (over 100) and village
flocks are smaller (under 50). Some
herders choose a sedentaryyear-round
 RESEARCHREPORT
life for severalreasons:their inabilityto
obtainlowlandpastures,the cost/benefit
ratios of capital as realized from both
farmingand herding,and a socialorien-
tation towardmaintaininga single resi-
dence. On the other hand, pastoral
transhumants invest in large flocks,
maintain dual residences, and obtain
pasturein the lowlandsthrough endur-
ing social networks. For transhumant
herders,the entrepreneurialaspectsof a
transhumant lifestyle reinforce the
bonds of patronageand brokeragenec-
essary for integration between lowland
and upland communities (Campbell
1964).
Mlllageherdersdescribetheirdecision-
making processes in terms of the year-
round condition of grazing lands and
fodder storage.Herderswho live at 800
meters or above have to provideanimals
withfodder during the winter,especially
if there is snow cover. In some years,
when snowcoverhas been relativelylight
(under a meter,and not lastingfor more
than a week), sheep and goatshavebeen
grazed continuously. Fodder demands
are relativelygreat, depending on how
many animals one owns and for what
period of time they must be housed in-
side the fold. Each adult female sheep
requiresone kilo of grainand one kiloof
fodder (hay, clover, or leafy branches)
per day.Often agropastoralists in Zone 3
and belowhouse theirflocksfor about50
daysper year,depending on snow cover
and rainy weather. Herders who must
provideyear-roundfodder tend to keep
smallerflocksof sheep and goats (under
100, and on the average,about 50).
This range of livestockhusbandrysys-
tems has been vastlyaffected by agricul-
turalpolicies implementedby the Greek
governmentas a result of its 1982 entry
into the EEC.The perpetuation of uw
land communities in Zones 1, 2, and 3
since the depopulation and diasporaaf-
ter the GreekCivilWar (1949) has been
in part due to the economic incentives
provided by EEC subsidies, credit, and
marketsupport.This is particularlyrele-
vant for pastoraltranshumancein Zone
2. The oral historyof pre-1940sagricul-
turaland animal husbandrypracticesin
695
villages like Polyneri suggest that agro-
pastoralismwas more prevalent in the
pre-1940speriod. The demise of upland
cereal cultivationover the last50 yearsis
now coupled with a rapidrisein pastoral
transhumantflocks occupying the areas
of unused agriculturallands. Concrete
animal folds, an extensive systemof wa-
tering troughs and springs,and sorting
and loading platformsfor transporting
stock by truckbetween lowlandand up-
land pastureshave all been funded di-
rectlyor subsidizedbythe EEC.Thus,the
materialcultureof pastoralismtodayre-
flects the effectsof nationaland interna-
tional agriculturalpolicies.
Transhumanceas a SocialIdeology
How then can the argument be ad-
vanced that pastoral mobility entails a
culturaland social ideology as well as an
economic basis?First, I argue that the
maintenance of ethnic boundaries ob-
servablein currentland use praciiceshas
importantsocial and ideologicaldimen-
sions. A Kupatshariherder who has no
kinship,godparenthood,or socialtes to
lowlandpasturecannot consider adopt-
ing transhumanceas a pastoralstrategy.
The dual membershipinto summerand
winterresidences,seeminglydictatedby
ecological and economic necessity,in-
volvesa necessarilycohesive structure-
one that is best expressedand sustained
throughsocial iies and culturalideology.
In simpleterms,transhumanceis embed-
ded in a worldviewand in an individual's
social persona.
In Herzfeld's (1985) exegesis of the
cultural performances of Cretan man-
hood among the Glendiotshepherds,he
often refers to the local village ideology
in which the shepherdssee themselvesas
hero-kleftes pitted against the larger,
more remote national ideology.Among
the Koutsovlachand Kupatsharimen,
whether urban or local, their main
source of local identity comes from the
upland villagesof Grevena.The best in
life comes from the mountains women,
livestock, and conviviality.A shepherd
wanted to know why Americansin my
region of the United States(a mountain-
696 AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST
ous area) did not practice transhumance
between the high mountains and the low
plains. He used the analogy of the
cuckoo bird, who migrates in early April
from Africa to the High Pindos of North-
ern Greece. He then claimed that human
transhumance between upland and low-
land communities was a natural state like
that of bird migration. This dominant
ideology in which a mobility strategy is
viewed by the herders themselves as gov-
erned by climate and natural tempera-
ment illustrates how the practice of
transhumance is naturalized."
Why do transhumant herders and
other community members believe that
social transhumance is a natural state?
We can consider transhumance as a set
of observable social behaviors tied to the
pastoral worldview. Among the Sarakat-
sani, patronage, lopsided friendship, and
clientage are used by shepherds to gain
access to grazing lands in the summer
village, curry political favor, and main-
tain protection against official, bureau-
cratic policies (Campbell 1964). Like the
Koutsovlach, the Sarakatsani identify
with their summer village.
In the Kupatshari villages where both
transhumance and year-round residency
occurs, there is a variation of this pattern
of renewing social ties and networks in
the summer village. The transhumants,
who tend to remain in their own residen-
tial neighborhoods, stand outside the
central social arenas of year-round resi-
dents; they describe themselves as out-
siders" or newcomers to their village of
origin, since they cannot claim full-time
residency. It is here, however, that they
must also establish essential social ties to
other herders, villagers, cheese mer-
chants, butchers, and patrons. The social
milieu of transhumant herders is quite
different from that of year-round village
residents. The transhumant herder must
operate in two distinct social settings-
the closed world of an upland village and
the larger world of sprawling agricultural
villages and towns of the Thessaly plains.
In social terms, while the Kupatshari
transhumant herder has two distinct so-
cial arenas, neither social community
considers that he is completely an in-
[95,1993]
sider. While transhumant mobility in this
sense may appear to have obvious social
disadvantages, the Kupatshari herders
are in the enviable position of occupying
the interstices existing between the Kout-
sovlach and Kupatshari. The Kupatshari
transhumants are part of an informal
network of shepherds, many of whom are
transhumant Koutsovlach. Often the Ku-
patshari and Koutsovlach transhumants
share common winter villages. The Ku-
patshari transhumants are thus able to
have direct access and ties to the Kout-
sovlach herders in Zone 1 by virtue of
their occupational specialization and
shared winter residence. In the past,
these ties became part of larger networks
that the Kupatshari had to Koutsovlach
cheese merchants and entrepreneurs.
Such patronage was by no means one-
sided, especially in the first half of the
20th century when the Koutsovlach, who
spent only the summer months in the
Pindos, depended on the Kupatshari vil-
lages for agricultural products, supplies,
and services. One may speculate that his-
torically, the ideology of a shared ethnic
origin of Koutsovlach and Kupatshariwas
emphasized to promote the patron-cli-
ent relations between the two ethnic
groups.
In the two Koutsovlach villages in-
cluded in our ethnoarcheological survey,
Avdella and Perivoli, there is evidence
that the majorityof community members
adhere to the outward expression of a
"herding past," although only a small
percentage of summer residents actually
engage in animal husbandry. Men gather
nightly in the village squares with their
shepherd's staffs and partake in eating
roasted kid or lamb.5 The Koutsovlach
traditions recalling a kleftin past are re-
newed through story-telling among for-
mer herders and urban Koutsovlach.
Many urban Koutsovlach continue to al-
ternate their residence between an uw
land summer village and lowland urban
communities. The ethnic identity of the
upper-class Koutsovlachs, now the urban-
ized Koutsovlachs, had its historical ante-
cedents in the profit-making activities of
long-distance muleteering and trading
with Koutsovlach merchants in Yugosla-
 RESEARCHREPORT
via, Bulgaria, and Albania (Schein
1974:92). Pastoral transhumance and
subsidiaryprofessions such as cheese-
making, woodcutting, and butchering
are perhaps the only concrete evidence
of a transhumanteconomy.The summer
residencein the Koutsovlachand Kupat-
sharivillages (Zones 1 and 2) lastsfrom
May to September and October. The
peak months of occupationareJulyand
August. By November the Koutsovlach
villagesare virtuallyabandoned,whereas
many of the Kupatsharivillagesin Zone
2 may have from 10 to 40 households in
residence during the winter. For the
Koutsovlachand Kupatsharicommuni-
ties where summer residence is high,
transhumanceis a "asharedculturalide-
ology."
Moreover,there is a nationallyrecog-
nized political aspect to summer resi-
dence in the uplandKoutsovlachvillages
of Grevena. The Koutsovlachsummer
communities,unlike the rest of Greece,
hold their local elections in the summer
ratherthan in the fall. ManyKoutsovlach
claimtheirprimaryresidencein the sum-
mer village, thus maintaining voting
rightsin the Koutsovlachuplandvillages.
In this sense, Koutsovlachidentityis tol-
erated and even encouraged by the
Greeknation-state.Thus for manyKout-
sovlach,seasonal transhumanceembod-
ies access to politicalrightsas an ethnic
enclave and the communityvalues, ori-
entation, and ideology spnbolic of a for-
mer pastoral or mobile existence. The
fact that the nation-statesupportsethnic
autonomy by granting the Koutsovlach
their own summer elections within the
national electorate system is indeed an
indicationof the degree of politicalclout
held by this ethnic group.
How and why does pastoral transhu-
mance,perhapsarisingout of the special-
ized needs of a pastoral population,
become a pervasivewayof life historically
for certain ethnic groups?Clearlyin the
case of Grevena,there are sociopolitical
reasonsfor why some Koutsovlachswho
live in urbanareasand follow a number
of urban professionsfar removed from
pastoralismmightwish to maintaintheir
ethnicity and political identity through
697
continued social transhumance.In the
same way that pastoralistsare predis-
posed to certain career trajectoriesin-
volvingbanditryand brokerage(trading,
raiding, and smuggling), they also sub-
scribe to mobility strategies that can
shape an entire community's orienta-
tion. The social flexibility required of
social transhumancerelies also on net-
workties and brokeragebetweenupland
and lowland communities. If transhu-
mant pastoralismis indeed a gmoveable
feast," then transhumant mobility de-
fines for its participantsdifferentsets of
social and political arenas. Social tran-
shumance thus becomes a means of or-
ganizingentire communitiesand ethnic
groups.
PastoralTranshumanceas an
ArcheologicalProblem
Pastoraltranshumanceas an archeo-
logical problem has tantalizedprehisto-
rians working in the Northern Med-
iterranean.In fact, there has been con-
siderablediscussionabout when the ori-
gins of specialized pastoral transhu-
mance occurred and whether this is
linked to the development of complex
societies during the Late Neolithic
throughIronAge (Greenfield1988;Hal-
stead 1981, 1987;Jacobsen 1978, 1981,
1984; Lewthwaite 1981, 1984; Sterud
1978). Pastoral transhumanceis often
viewedas the best exampleof specialized
pastoralismin the EuropeanMediterra-
nean by those archeologistsworkingin
regions where such practicesare recog-
nized historicallyand ethnographically.
The developmentof pastoraltranshu-
mance is often tied to the "secondary
products revolution" (Sherratt 1981,
1983), a hypothesisthat meat-basedpas-
toralismwas replaced by daixying,wool
production,and animal tractionduring
the late Neolithic when large tracts of
European woodlands were deforested.
The argumentfor linking pastoraltran-
shumance to the secondary products
revolutionis that pastoralspecialization
musthavedepended on broadexchange
networks and/or markets. Such ex-
change networksrelied on trading the
698 AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST
surplusproductssuch as dairyitems and
fibers. Mixed farmingand herding sys-
temsoften are characterizedas Neolithic
adaptations based on a "subsistence"
rather than market orientation (Hal-
stead 1987). Thus many archeologists
viewpastoraltranshumanceas a possible
mechanism for explaining high-
land/lowland interactions during the
LateNeolithic throughBronzeAge peri-
ods, periods of increasing social com-
plexityand politicalcentralization.6
Research documenting prehistoric
pastoraltranshumancehasyet to be con-
ducted throughthe traditionalmeansof
surveyor excavationprojects.Archeolo-
gists like Halstead (1987), working in
NorthernGreece,andLewthwaite( 1981,
1984) workingin Corsicaand Sardinia,
have repeatedlycautionedarcheologists
about the speculativeand inconclusive
nature in which archeologistshave used
historicaland ethnographicexamplesof
Mediterraneantranshumanceas analo-
gies for describingthe originsof special-
ized pastoralism.
Ethnoarcheologicalresearch on con-
temporarypastoraltranshumancein the
NorthernMediterraneanmaycontribute
to these discussionsboth methodologi-
cally and theoretically.From a theoreti-
cal perspective,it is essentialto drawon
the considerable progress made by so-
cioculturalanthropologistsstudyingpas-
toral nomads over the last two decades.
How do pastoralistssurvivein pluralistic
sociopoliticalarenas and in relation to
the nation-state and larger, regional
structures?For archeologists to tackle
such a complicatedproblem as the ori-
gins of specialized pastoralismor pas-
toral transhumance, there is also a
necessityto understandthe sociocultural
context of historicaland ethnographic
casesof pastoraltranshumance.Without
attention to such linkagesbetween pas-
toral production and larger economic
and sociopoliticalstructures,the premise
that pastoralismexisted as a specialized
form is only informedby speculation.
Pastoraltranshumance couldhaveorigi-
nated at severaldifferentpoints in time.
This is often unrecognizedby prehistori-
ans,who tend toviewtheoriginsof special-
[95,1993]
ized pastoralismas a naturalprogression
in the evoluton of animal husbandiy
systems.The question of the origins of
pastoraltranshumancein the prehistoric
record are most often discussedin light
of the key environmentaland ecological
conditions necessary for the mainte-
nance of a pastoralregimedivorcedfrom
cultivation.Yetin Grevena,pastoraltran-
shumanceis also realizedthrough a set
of structuralrelationshipsbetween local
communitiesand largerregionaland na-
tional contexts.
PastoralTranshwnanceand the State
Does the economic impactof the EEC
render Grevenapastoraltranshumance
an inappropriate case for developing
models with which to examine prehis-
toricpastoraltranshumancein the Medi-
terranean?While it is absolutely clear
that this form of modernizationis far
removed from a "pristine"situation of
Mediterraneanpastoral transhumance,
an even more fundamental question
must be addressed.Did Mediterranean
pastoral transhumancearise out of re-
gional and national policies in recent
history?If so, pastoraltranshumancein
the prehistoric record may also have
been attachedto the evolvingcomplexity
of an emergingstate-levelorganization.
In the late l9th century,pastoraltran-
shumance in the Koutsovlachvillages
dwindled when Ottoman chifliS7 in
Thessalycame underlocal Greekcontrol
(Wace and Thompson 1914:160-168).
Pastoraltranshumantsfound it increas-
inglydifficultto gainaccessto largetracts
of winter pasture and thus turned to
other occupations.Wars,uprisings,and
brigandagein the second halfof the l9th
century,all directlya cause of the incor-
porationof the Koutsovlachby the Otto-
man Empire and later by the Greek
nation-state,led to an unstable political
climatefor pastoraltranshumants.
Pastoraltranshumanceas a conceptual
problem cannot be viewed in isolation.
All pastoral systems have connections
with the outside world and are never
divorced from agriculture (Khazanov
1984). Pastoraltranshumanceis not even
 RESEARCH REPORT
really a type" of pastoral production; it
is only a mobility" strategy. What makes
European pastoral transhumance so in-
teresting is the variety of organizational
structures in which this strategy has ex-
isted in histonc and modern times. In
Greece, pastoral transhumance is a mo-
bility strategy organized by entire com-
munities of pastoralists who define
themselves ethnically or'by individual
pastoral households living in agropas-
toral villages. In the case of the Kout-
sovlach transhumants, this relationship
to the "outside world" can best be traced
through recent historical processes of
state formation. Throughout the second
halfof the l9th centuiy and beginning of
the 20th centuv, Koutsovlach pastoral
transhumance operated on the fringes of
an emergent nation-state. This history
now serves as the background for Kout-
sovlach identity within the modern na-
tion-state. This ethnic group continues to
assert its identity by reinforcing the social
transhumance between the upland Kout-
sovlach communities and pluralistic low-
land communities.
Each mobility pattern is itself con-
strained by the other components in the
regional pastoral system and by larger
structural entities. A compelling exam-
ple is the manner by which empires and
states imposed political control over the
ethnic Koutsovlach, thus constraining
mechanisms of integration between uw
land and lowland communities from the
mid-19th- to early 20thwentury period.
The Koutsovlach,who occupied a territo-
rial niche between the disintegrating Ot-
toman Empire and the emergent
independent Greek nation-state, shifted
in and out of pastoral transhumance de-
pending on the political conditions.
While it might be effectively argued that
the Koutsovlach were pariicularly vulner-
able in this historical period of political
instability, such vulnerability can be seen
as advantageous to the perpetuation of
their ethnic and political autonomy. The
Koutsovlach could operate in such a way
as to hedge their bets so that both low-
land and upland communities could
selve as refuges. Herders who dropped
out of pastoral transhumance were able
699
to resume this activityat a later time or to
enter into subsidiary occupations like ut
land brigandage and banditry. While
such activities probably maintained the
"stateless, backward"nature of Grevena
throughout the 20th centuIy, it was in
fact an effective strategy open to the
Koutsovlach and other transhumant
populations. Today, pastoral transhu-
mance continues to operate on the mar-
gins and periphery, seIving as a vital
channel of communication, trade, and
brokerage between local ethnic groups
and the nation-state. At the same time
favorable economic incentives brought
by Greece's entry into the EEC once
again opened up a viable niche for pas-
toral transhumants and allowed urban
Koutsovlach to maintain social transhu-
mance in the upland communities.
These examples drawn from the con-
temporary and historic socioeconomic
context of Grevena pastoral systems serve
as very useful comparisons for archeol
gists seeking a theoretical framework for
explaining the development of pastoral
transhumance in Mediterranean Europe
and elsewhere. Pastoral transhumance as
a flexible, open-ended strategy integrat-
ing upland/lowland communities must
be seen within a broader regional con-
text. While it may not be possible to draw
analogies between contemporary pas-
toral transhumance and what happened
in prehistory, one may legitimately posit
a model of pastoral transhumance in
terms of an organizational strategy that
was used by herders. Pastoralistswho had
to organize and schedule movement be-
tween two different environmental zones
probably also had to make complex ar-
rangements for gaining access to pasture-
lands. Just as the Koutsovlach have been
able to Zmixand match" settlement and
mobility strategies under various forms of
state-level control, prehistoric pastoral
transhumance would also have afforded
herders a chance to shift in and out of
various sociopolitical arenas. Moreover,
even when pastoral transhumance was
favored, there was always the possibility
that herders could shift into closely re-
lated careers like smuggling, raiding, and
trading. Once again, with these ideas in
700 ANERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST
mind, it may be more useful for archeolo-
gists to see any development of pastoral
transhumance as not necessarily at-
tached to a certain evolutionary stage in
prehistory, nor as strategy that originated
only at one point in time, but as a series
of structural arrangements between pas-
toralists and the state.
Conclusons
The ethnoarcheological research on
which this report is based has furthered
an understanding of pastoral transhu-
mance in southern Europe by: (1) a sys-
tematic data collection of contemporary
pastoral land use strategies over three
major upland environmental zones; and
(2) providing the ethnographic back-
ground to describe how and why ethnic-
ity as associated with pastoral trans-
humance can be sustained in a modern
nation-state. The observation that the
pastoral sites of summer transhumants
and year-round herders across three up-
land environmental zones leads to the
more theoretical inquiry of how and why
herders adopted long-distance transhu-
mance as an ecological and economic
adaptation. The specific issues of ethnic-
ity and transhumance as a cultural ideol-
ogy begin to emerge only as the social
and cultural context of local communi-
ties vis-a-visthe modern nation-state be-
comes apparent. The role that the EEC
funds play in the individual decision-
making processes of transhumant herd-
ers and village herders is essential for
understanding the links between local
upland communities and lowland urban
centers. In these regional and national
contexts, transhumance as a mobility
strategy also embodies a cultural ideol-
ogy of Koutsovlach identity. Data and
analysis support the hypothesis that pas-
toral transhumance is realized through a
set of structural relationships between
local communities and regional and na-
tional contexts. As a consequence, the
process by which the modern Greek na-
tion-state incorpontes the Koutsovlachs
through economic and political policies
can be contrasted to the processes of
incorporation implemented in Sweden
[95,1993]
and other regions where tnnshumance
or nomadismis associatedwitha specific
ethnic group.Nevertheless,the objective
of this researchproject is first and fore-
most to provide the prehistonan with
usefulanalogiesand parallelsfrom mod-
em historic and ethnographic contexts
thatcan then be appliedto archeological
intexpretaiionson the origqnsof special-
ized pastoralism.
Notes
Acknowledgm4nts: This research was funded
by the Wenner-Gren Foundation during
1988-89, and subsequent summer grants
from Sweet Briar College from 1990 to 1992.
The ethnoarcheological data were collected
under the auspices of the Grevena Archeo-
logical Project directed by Nancy C. Wilkie. I
wish to thank Harold A. Koster for our many
fruitful discussions about Greek pastoralism
over the years. The three anonymous review-
ers and Norman Yoffee, Fotini Tsibiridou,
and Emanuel Marx provided invaluable sug-
gestions on earlier drafts. Also, I wish to thank
Karla Faulconer for drafting Figure 1, and
Perry A. Tourtellotte for sharing the field-
work and compiling the data for Table 1.
1. I use the term Koutsorluch to identify this
ethnic group of Aroumani-speaking Greeks.
Schein (1974) refers to this same ethnic
group as Aroumani. Campbell (1964) and
Wace and Thompson ( 1914) refer to them as
the Koutsovlach. Nandris (1990) identifies
the Aroumani as Vlahs, but prefers to use the
nonpejorative term of Aromani. Contempo-
rary Greek folklorists and ethnographers re-
fer to this ethnic group as Koutsovlach (Fotini
Tsibiridou, personal communication, 1991).
So as to minimize confusion between Greek
and Western anthropologists, I have decided
to use the term Koutsorlarh.
2. Sheep, goats, and beefeattle are herded
separately. When sheep and goats are herded
together, usually a small number of goats ( 15
head) are lead animals for sheep flocks. A
herder may own both cattle and sheep, but
each species is herded separately.
3. The definition of pastoral transhu-
mance in anthropology and historical litera-
ture on animal husbandry has led to
considerable confusion. The single most
problematic point is that of categorizing pas-
toral transhumance, a mobility strategy based
on two or more seasonal localities and fixed
residences as pastoral nomadism (cf. Ingold
1987). According to Ingold (1987), pastoral
 RESEARCHREPORT
transhumanceis different from nomadism
becausetranshumanceoccursbetweenfixed
summerand winterresidences,whereas no-
madicmobilityexhibitsresidentialflexibility
and a high degree of territorialmobilityover
space and through time. In this regard, I
follow Ingold's (1987) distinction between
pastoraltranshumanceand nomadism.
4. Klidonasis a termderivedfrom ancient
Greekused to describeSt.John the Diviner
(Megas 1963:131). This women's ritual is
used to divine whether a girl will become
engaged.
5. This ritualof eating meat as a form of
male solidarityhas been discussed in great
detail for Cretan shepherds by Herzfeld
(1985:141).In easternCrete,shepherdswho
stealsheep oftenlike to publiclyconsumethe
stolen goods.
6. A discussionof the secondaryproducts
revolution during the Eneolithic and early
BronzeAge periodsfromthe centralBalkans
is presented in Greenfield's (1988) article.
Chapman (1982) evaluatesmany of the as
sumptions of the secondary products hy-
pothesisfor CentralEurope.
7. Chiftlikland was redistributedamong
Greeksso that parcelsof winterpasturewere
often reducedin sizeandprobablyweremore
difElcultto obtainfor the individualherder.
When Thessaly came under independent
Greek control in 1881, Samarinashepherds
often found it difficultto obtainwintergraz-
ing. Duringthis period some Vlachpastoral-
ists abandoned their profession and sum-
mer residences in the Pindos (Wace and
Thompson 1914:167-168).
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European Social Science

in Transition- Assessment and Outlook
Meinolf DIerkes and Bernd Biervert, edItors
Major SubjectInterests:SocZology,
Europe
rn
he social sciences in Europeare in a maJorphase of translton, not merelycaused by the social
j - and politlcal challenges emanatlng from the current transformationsIn both Western and
Eastern Europe, but also stemmlng from eplstemological, conceptuaJ and methodological
reorientations.The obJectiveof this book Is to argue that the social sclences have passed througha
period In which fundamentalissues of a sclence of society were consldered solved, and have now
entereda new era of self-reflectionand self-doubt.
The issue Is approachedfromfourdlfferentangles: I) The relationof the soclal sclences to the natural
sciences Is reassessed agalnst the backgroundof recent theoreticalInnovationsIn the latterones. 2)
The major social science dSsclpllnes are analyzed In terms of the present theoretical and
methodological state. 3) Selected thematic flelds dlscussed In the social sclences durlng the last
decade (politicalparticlpation,soclal Inequallty,economic Instablllty)are evaluated in terms of thelr
academic achievement and practicalrelevance. 4) Emergingareas of concentrationfor futuresocial
science research (time, nature and technology,world economy) thelr conceptual basls and funlre
researchpotentIals are outllned and explored.
Ae volume concludes with two contrlbutlonson the role of comparatlveresearchIn the development
of social sclence in Europe,as well as on the generaloutlook forsocial science researchInthe future.
Nov. 1992;640 pp. (tables, flgures,notes, bibllo);0-8133-16294, $64.50; A Campus Verlag Book
Westview Press . 5500 CentralAve. * Boulder,CO80301 * (303) 444-3351 * FAX (303) 449-3356
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