This chapter surveys the lamentably incomplete evidence that is available about the inhabitants of the northern Horn during the period immediately preceding the appearance of literate complex societies early in the first millennium BC. There are indications that at least some sections of the region's population may have practised a farming lifestyle, but much of the evidence is secondary, comprising inferences from later trends. It was not until the 1970s that archaeologists working in the northern Horn began to take an interest in ancient domestic economies, and not until the 1990s that concerted efforts were made to recover materials on which their reconstruction might be based. Economic matters were only rarely recorded in traditional histories, whether transmitted orally or in written form. In the absence of primary information, other sources were perforce emphasised.

Ancient visitors to the region noted relevant details only tangentially, and it was not until the sixteenth century that travellers began to arrive who were interested in recording conditions that prevailed in other than political spheres, and in the day-to-day lifestyles of the rural inhabitants. Such visitors were, in contrast to their predecessors, often particularly concerned with the possibilities of religious conversion, settlement by missionaries or exploitation of natural resources. Plants, animals and foodstuffs were often described by comparison with those about which the visitors were already knowledgeable, and the resultant terminology may be incorrect or difficult to interpret. It is tempting to take the conditions observed between the sixteenth and the twentieth centuries as reflecting those of earlier times, but caution is needed.