Th ey probably moved into Harappan territory looking for
pasture for their cattle about 1500 b.c.e. Th ey esteemed war-
riors over all others. When they found no outsiders to fi ght,
they fought with one another. Th eir oral history hints that
they fought many battles.
From 1500 to 900 b.c.e. the Aryans raided and eventu-
ally invaded throughout northern India. Th eir elite warriors
rode into battle in chariots pulled by two horses apiece. Each
chariot had a driver who road on the chariot’s shaft. Th e elite
warrior was an archer who had two assistants who supplied
him with arrows or the weapons he needed if he chose to
dismount and fi ght hand to hand. Th e other peoples of India
had nothing to match the chariots for speed and maneuver-
ability, because they lacked strong horses like those that had
been bred in central Asia. About 900 b.c.e. the Aryans be-
gan settling along the Ganges River in northern India. By
about 500 b.c.e. they had become part of the settled peoples
of northern India, fending off attacks by nomads from the
northeast of India, who may have been driven out of their
homes by the Chinese. Still, some of the Aryans remained
nomadic cattle herders in remote parts of northern India
into the 21st century.EUROPE
BY LÁSZLÓ BARTOSIEWICZ
Archaeologists and anthropologists who study ancient societ-
ies use the term nomadic to refer to societies that do not have
permanent settlements but rather relocate them, usually in
response to the availability of key resources such as game andTh e Scythians were one of the principal nomadic peoples in ancient Asia. Th eir domain was situated east of Europe and north of ancient
Mesopotamia.
792 nomadic and pastoral societies: Europe