• Dolores [love/loves]
    ·
    1 month ago

    since all of these societies were either self-sufficient or simply pillaged from other societies. The telling in which theses societies were reliant on trade between each other is so silly it doesn't even rise to the level of Adam Smith's "barter myth," which itself is discredited

    the hell are you talking about, trade is very well documented in the medditerrean since the bronze age

      • HelltakerHomosexual [she/her, comrade/them]
        ·
        1 month ago

        Most societies for thousands of years did not barter. Bartering is a myth, but that does not mean trade itself is a myth. Most had some form of money and accounting. The complexity of ancient civilizations should not be underestimated.

      • Dolores [love/loves]
        ·
        1 month ago

        a vulgar generalization! many "tribal" social organizations had monetary development and were plugged into a long range trading network. cornwall continuously exported tin from the bronze age through the medieval period, regardless of the state of political sophistication it was subject to

    • thethirdgracchi [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      1 month ago

      Trade is arguably a lot earlier, too. In the Mediterranean region obsidian (from volcanic regions) was highly prized during the neolithic for making sharp blades, and even though there are only a few sources of it in the entire region obsidian blades can be found all over the Med. Speaks to some kind of trading network operating during the neolithic, if not earlier.