Trade before Civilization
Long Distance Exchange and the Rise of Social Complexity

This volume analyses the relationship between long-distance trade and the rise of inequality and social complexity.

Johan Ling (Edited by), Richard J. Chacon (Edited by), Kristian Kristiansen (Edited by)

9781316514689, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 September 2022

446 pages
25.9 x 18.2 x 2.6 cm, 1.07 kg

Trade before Civilization explores the role that long-distance exchange played in the establishment and/or maintenance of social complexity, and its role in the transformation of societies from egalitarian to non-egalitarian. Bringing together research by an international and methodologically diverse team of scholars, it analyses the relationship between long-distance trade and the rise of inequality. The volume illustrates how elites used exotic prestige goods to enhance and maintain their elevated social positions in society. Global in scope, it offers case studies of early societies and sites in Europe, Asia, Oceania, North America, and Mesoamerica. Deploying  a range of inter-disciplinary and cutting-edge theoretical approaches from a cross-cultural framework, the volume offers new insights and enhances our understanding of socio-political evolution. It will appeal to archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, conflict theorists, and ethnohistorians, as well as economists seeking to understand the nexus between imported luxury items and cultural evolution.

1. New perspectives on long-distance trade and social complexity Johan Ling, Richard J. Chacon, and Kristian Kristiansen
Part I. Exchange and Social Evolution: Forms of Trade in Egalitarian, Transegalitarian, and Chiefdom Societies: 2. Funnel beaker societies and long-distance trade Johannes Müller
3. Stonehenge: Long-distance exchange in Late Neolithic Britain c.3000–2450 BC Michael Parker Pearson
4. Secret societies, rock art, and long-distance exchange in the Nordic Bronze Age: The supra-regional interaction hypothesis Johan Ling, Richard J. Chacon, and Yamilette Chacon
5. Trade, exchange, and the workings of a “prestige” economy in contact-era New Guinea Paul Roscoe
Part II. The Role That Specific Institutions and Agents Played in Long-Distance Exchange: 6. Middle Bronze Age long-distance exchange: amber, early glass, and guest friendship, xenia Flemming Kaul
7. Culture heroes, inalienable goods, and religious sodalities: long distance exchange in eastern North America at European contact David Dye
8. Trade and Calusa complexity: achieving resilience in a changing environment William Marquardt
Part III. The Role of Political Economy and Elite Control in Long-Distance Exchange: 9. Lapita long-distance interactions in the Western Pacific: from prestige goods to prestige practices Matthew Spriggs
10. Trade and the Hillfort chiefdoms of Bronze Age Ireland William O'Brien
11. Long-distance exchange between the Eastern Mediterranean and Central and Northern Europe in the Bronze Age: social, political and religious background Rudiger Krause
12. The Turquoise Corridor: Mesoamerican prestige technologies and social complexity in the Greater Southwest Rubén Mendoza
Part IV. Marxian and Postcolonial Approaches as Well as World System Theory in Relation to Gift Exchange, and Macro-Regional Exchange: 13. Accumulation and the articulation of modes of re-production Michael Rowlands
14. Scandinavia and Europe in the Earliest Bronze Age: metals, trade, and change Helle Vandkilde
15. Long-distance interaction in fourth-millennium BCE Eurasia Svend Hansen
16. Following the breadcrumbs: epistemological and methodological issues in the interpretations of long-distance trade in the Caribbean Antonio Curet and Jose R. Oliver
Part V. Commentary on Contributions to This Volume: 17. Political economy perspectives in trade before and beyond civilizations Brian Hayden and Timothy Earle.

Subject Areas: Medieval European archaeology [HDDM], Classical Greek & Roman archaeology [HDDK], Egyptian archaeology / Egyptology [HDDG], Prehistoric archaeology [HDDA], Archaeology by period / region [HDD]