Basics in Human Evolution: Pastoralism

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering the prehistory, biogeography, dietary strategies, genetics of lactase persistence, and zoonotic disease ecology of pastoralism.

Pastoralism

A subsistence pattern based on keeping domestic herbivorous livestock as a means of primary or secondary subsistence, originating over $10{,}000$ years ago following the end of the Pleistocene Epoch.

Agropastoralism

A subsistence practice falling along a continuum that combines plant cultivation with animal herding.

Transhumance

A pastoral movement pattern characterized by seasonal migration of herds between distinct pasture zones.

Nomadic Pastoralism

A pastoral movement strategy featuring frequent movement of the entire homestead, typically practiced in semiarid ecosystems with patchy, dispersed, or drought-limited green pastures.

Commensal Pathway

An animal domestication pathway in which animals are initially drawn to human settlements or hunting camps by food refuse and habituate to humans through close association (e.g., dogs, cats, guinea pigs).

Prey Pathway

An animal domestication pathway where species that were once actively hunted are gradually subjected to game management strategies (e.g., cattle, goats, sheep, camelids, reindeer).

Directed Pathway

An animal domestication pathway involving deliberate and planned human agency to capture, tame, and breed animals for specific uses such as transport or traction (e.g., horses, donkeys, camels).

Aurochs (Bos primigenius)

The extinct wild ancestor of both Eurasian cattle (Bos taurus) and zebu cattle (Bos indicus), which went extinct in 1627 with the death of the last recorded female in Poland.

Secondary Products Revolution

A concept formulated by Andrew Sherratt referring to the prehistoric shift toward using domestic animals for renewable products—such as milk, wool, and traction—rather than solely for primary slaughter products like meat and hides.

Bleeding Live Animals

A food extraction technique practiced in East Africa where blood is collected from the jugular vein of large stock or facial vein of small stock to supplement diet without slaughtering the animal.

Ghee

A pure form of milk fat or oil produced by heating churned butter to remove protein, capable of remaining unspoiled for weeks and possessing an energy density of $9\,\text{kcal/g}$.

Lactose

The primary carbohydrate (disaccharide sugar) found in milk, consisting of bonded glucose and galactose molecules.

Lactase (Lactase-Phlorizin Hydrolase / LPH)

The brush-border enzyme produced in the small intestinal mucosa that breaks down the disaccharide lactose into digestible monosaccharides (glucose and galactose).

Hypolactasia

The mammalian baseline condition—also known as lactose intolerance—in which the synthesis of intestinal lactase ceases after weaning, causing digestive distress upon consuming raw milk.

Lactase Persistence

The continued adult production of the intestinal enzyme lactase, allowing the digestion of milk sugar, which evolved under positive selection in dairying populations.

LCT Gene

The structural gene on human chromosome 2 encoding the lactase enzyme, whose post-weaning downregulation is modulated in persistent adults by nearby enhancer mutations.

Zoonotic Diseases (Zoonoses)

Infectious diseases and parasites that can be transmitted naturally between vertebrate animals (both wild and domestic) and humans.

Rinderpest Virus (RPV)

A devastating viral morbillivirus of cattle and ruminants that causes catastrophic herd mortality; phylogenetic evidence indicates measles virus (MeV) diverged from it in the 11th or 12th century CE.

Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs)

A class of fatal, untreatable neurodegenerative diseases caused by prions that feature long incubation periods and lack an immune response (e.g., scrapie, BSE, chronic wasting disease, and variant CJD).

Human Niche Construction

An evolutionary process whereby humans actively modify their own environmental niche—such as adopting pastoralism and dairying—creating novel selective pressures that drive biological and genetic change.