Page 138 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW - ISSUE 13

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Greek as well as Roman writers speak of so-called peoples (Numidians, Gaetulians,

Garamantes). However, these are not directly peoples, but confederations, i.e.
associations of larger tribes. In modern nomadic societies (here Berbers), the family
forms the basis for tribal development. Thus, consanguinity is also a very important
point, because the clan is formed from several families that are related in this way, and
different clans make up the tribe.

Very long migrations are not uncommon for nomadic tribes. It is said that the Berber

Reguibat, who live in present-day Mauritania and western Algeria, undertake migrations
that can stretch up to a thousand kilometres. Nomadic groups, incidentally, are always
dependent on rainfall for their migrations, whether in Mauritania or in Cyrenaica. They
set out in summer to spend the winter, which is wetter and colder, in the desert.

A tribal centre, as Elfriede Storm points out, does not necessarily mean that a tribe was

sedentary: “Even nomads are not as independent of inhabited places as is usually
assumed. They all have a permanent settlement as their centre, which, apart from
being a place of trade, is also a religious centre. Above all, it formed a safe haven for
each tribe in times of danger. ... ” [87].

Here too, we see that the theory of the domestication of the dog in the context of a
sedentary development does not work. A certain sedentariness cannot be completely

ruled out even in the nomadic cultures of hunter-gatherers.

Sloughi of the Ouled Nail in Northern Algeria 2020, substantial and
strong build © Abdeljalil