Neolithic transhumance in the Mediterranean Pyrenees

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Abstract
Excavation at a series of sites in the Aude valley of southern France shows that transhumant movement of domestic ovicaprines began in the late Mesolithic and the Early Neolithic, following seasonal movements among lowland, middle altitude and mountain environments for the exploitation of wild plant and animal resources. Beginning around 4500 bc, midway through the Early Neolithic, the faunal evidence shows the emergence of a mixed herding economy at the lowland sites, but sheep and goat appear increasingly alone at the mountain sites. At the same time, vegetational and sedimentary evidence show signs of deforestations, invasions of pioneer species, and erosion. It is argued that domestic herbivores may have played a key role in the degradation of soil and vegetation in sensitive submediterranean forest ecosystems. Transhumance may have been both a cause and a consequence of the ecological changes which it set in motion. The movement of domestic herds to upland pastures may have been a necessary adaptation to the aridity and impoverished vegetation of the lowland zone.

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