Chapter 2
In the beginning
If early hominids exchanged goods outside the immediate group to which
they belonged, no archaeological evidence of it exists. Forager bands gath-
ered materials in one location on their migratory rounds and transported
them some distances–modern foraging groups normally do this up to a
range of about 50 miles–but there is no indication they exchanged them
with other groups. Archaeological evidence seems to indicate, for example,
that Neanderthal groups, representing the closest relatives to anatomically
modern humans, didn’t trade with each other as the tools they made stayed
with them. The same kind of evidence, however, seems to indicate that
members of our own species may have engaged in such behavior very early
on. Anatomically modern humans living in a cave in Tanzania between
100,000 and 130,000 years ago had tools made of obsidian, the closest
deposit of which was 200 miles away, several times beyond the range of
normal foraging. The most obvious conclusion is that this indicates the pre-
sence of an early exchange network.
Exchange between people living considerable distances from each other,
beyond the range of normal movement, and perhaps other changes associated
with the Late Paleolithic, may have been part of a strategy to deal with
increased environmental stress, specifically the last glacial onslaught. One
idea is that the earliest trade probably occurred when hunting bands acci-
dentally bumped into each other and each discovered it had something the
other wanted. This is certainly a reasonable, if unprovable, scenario, keeping
in mind, however, that dealing with strangers in the Paleolithic world was
unpredictable and may have been dangerous, so most exchange took place
among groups who were connected to each other. Exchange was done
through social networks determined by family and clan affiliations.
Connected groups could stretch across vast areas although the exchanges that
occurred were at best occasional and unsystematic. Social networks were held
together by periodic meetings at special sites, during which a variety of
activities was held to cement relationships. These included rituals and
initiations, feasting, the selection of marriage partners, the exchange of
information, and the exchange of goods particular to the area from which