Historians have long asked whether the development of agriculture was a positive step for humans. It’s equally important to ask: did everyone adopt agriculture? Actually, many communities didn’t begin farming right away—or at all. Historians agree that agriculture did not take over fully or evenly.

Many communities began farming independently, and they did so at very different times. Some began farming more than 12,000 years ago, but other groups didn’t farm for thousands of years after that. Today there are still communities that do not rely primarily on farming.

The shift to farming was also uneven in the sense that farming wasn’t always adopted fully. Some communities did a bit of farming but remained largely nomadic. Others farmed some of the year and relied on trade at other times. Some communities that had previously farmed eventually gave up farming. This happened, for example, in the Sahara region in Africa, where communities were forced to stop farming as the desert spread.

Non-agricultural societies didn’t disappear after farming became common. They were still found in much of the world.

Different kinds of communities

It would be a mistake to think that communities that didn’t adopt agriculture grew nothing. Many groups did grow some crops but didn’t rely on them entirely or settle down permanently to farm the land. Others, called pastoralists, raised animals but didn’t grow plants regularly, and they remained mostly nomadic. Still, others mainly foraged or hunted and gathered, as their ancestors had for thousands of years.

In the Americas, people mostly foraged and grew some plants. Herd animals like the alpaca and the llama were domesticated. In coastal South America, as well as in the Baltic region of Northern Europe, fishing supported large, permanent settlements.

Animals were critical to nomadic pastoralists’ way of life. The horse was perhaps the single most important animal for pastoralist groups from the Eurasian steppe. The dry grasslands made farming difficult. Horses and other livestock provided protein in the form of dairy and sometimes meat. Their dung provided fuel, their hides clothing and shelter, and they were the primary form of transportation.

How were pastoralist groups organized socially? We know that family structures were important. Pastoral communities, like foragers, often moved in groups of five to a dozen families. They cooperated to manage labor and to defend each other from outside groups. Their families weren’t necessarily as defined as those of sedentary, or settled farming groups. Of course, nomadic groups were varied and had different levels of complexity. Some pastoralists formed small confederations, and others, like the Xiongnu, built empires.

In nomadic communities, gender roles were typically freer than in agricultural communities. Men typically cared for cattle or other herd animals and made weapons and other tools. They also hunted and defended the communities. Women made food and clothing and took care of small children. However, when men were absent, women took on almost all of the responsibility. When the group moved, women often took down and set up dwellings. They were also trained in riding and archery, as they sometimes had to defend their communities from outsiders. Women’s graves sometimes contained weapons, suggesting they had a role in military life as well.

Networks and exchange

Both pastoralist and foraging societies had varying economic systems. Many of these systems included trade with sedentary communities. Pastoralists often traded dairy, meat, and wool for agricultural products, including grains. Much of this trade was well organized and continued for long periods of time. In fact, successful trade between non-agricultural communities often resulted in the creation of long-term settlements in some trade centers. Pastoralist nomads supplied and handled animals along the Silk Road, and provided protection for Silk Road travelers. In the Arabian Peninsula, Arab pastoralists supplied camels and led caravans across the desert.

Non-agricultural communities benefited from and contributed to trade networks. However, they also had conflicts with sedentary farming groups. Many of the sources we have about pastoralist nomads describe them negatively. Sedentary agriculturalists were often part of powerful, rich societies. However, they were also at risk of being attacked. Settled communities were tied to land and possessions, while nomadic ones could move about quickly and easily. This allowed nomads to attack and plunder resources. They could acquire agricultural products without having to farm or trade.

Of course, this angered sedentary communities. One example of a major conflict was the long-term struggle between the Chinese and neighboring pastoralist groups. Many Chinese dynasties launched huge war efforts against these nomadic groups. The Han-dynasty historian Sima Qian (c. 147–87 BCE) wrote about the northern Xiongnu in his “Records of the Grand Historian.” The Xiongnu, he said, wandered “from place to place pasturing their animals ...They move about in search of water and pasture and have no walled cities or fixed dwellings, nor do they engage in any kind of agriculture ... It is their custom to herd their flocks in times of peace and make their living by hunting, but in periods of crisis they take up arms and go off on plundering and marauding expeditions. This seems to be their inborn nature ... Their only concern is self-advantage, and they know nothing of propriety or righteousness.”

As we can see from this passage, Sima Qian considers the Xiongnu to be thieving, violent and without morals. Many nomadic groups were described this way by sedentary societies. However, it is wise to be critical when reading these accounts from outsiders. Certainly, nomadic groups had their own concepts of right and wrong. Their conflicts with neighboring groups suggest that they were not always well understood. In the end, though, we still learn much from the descriptions of outsiders. Their accounts help to reveal how non-agricultural communities lived, worked, and interacted with others.