of vessels and utensils for cooking might have been done by
either gender, with actual preparation of meals at the base
camp being the responsibility of women and children. Men
prepared their own meals while on the hunt. Th e San traded
with other people, so that San in an area rich in clay would
make pottery to trade with others who might have woven
baskets or made other basic goods.
For most of Africa the big change in this way of life came
with the invasion of the Bantu-speaking people from West
Africa. Th e Bantu speakers may have included descendants
of people who had lived in the Sahara when it was a fertile
grassland before 3000 b.c.e., migrating south as the Sahara
dried and bringing with them the knowledge of how to care
for herding animals, such as cattle, goats, and sheep, and of
how to raise cereal crops. Rock paintings from the Sahara
date back to about 27,500 b.c.e. and reveal the development
of the ancient Saharans from hunter-gatherers to herders in
5095 b.c.e. and then to adopting a horse-based culture in
2780 b.c.e. and beyond. Th is evolution meant that their de-
scendants among the Bantu speakers would have had a divi-
sion of labor into diff erent jobs and would have had customs
regarding employment and labor.
Even without writing, their rules about employment
were complex by the time they began making substantial in-
roads on the ancient territories of the San and the so-called
Pygmies. People were bound to one another by family, clan,
village, and personal obligation. Becoming an employee
was considered a personal obligation in which labor was
exchanged for training, goods, or money. At fi rst the Bantu
speakers were slash-and-burn agriculturalists, but they slowly
changed from that practice to a more renewable form of agri-
culture. Th e fi rst step toward renewable agriculture may have
begun in the 200s c.e. when several hundred Bantu speakers
migrated up the Congo and established farms. Th eir success
attracted others, who became farmhands. Th e manufacture
of iron was well known to them, and ironmasters set up busi-
ness and attracted apprentices. Th is growth in employment
represented an increase in prosperity and, with it, a rise in
disputes over the proper distribution of wealth among em-
ployers and employees. To resolve labor disputes, both em-
ployers and employees consulted female shamans, a priestess
skilled in magical arts.
Women were usually the ones who conducted trade
among the Bantu speakers. Th eir knowledge of trading made
them experts in the value of goods and, therefore, probably
in the value of labor. In that context, having female shamans,
whose religious status put them in positions of authority,
settle labor disputes seems natural. It is likely that the sha-
mans put their judgments in supernatural terms, with certain
labor practices angering supernatural forces or drawing bad
luck. Th e shamans would have settled questions of how much
someone was to be paid, how long an employee had to work
for his or her boss before becoming free to work elsewhere or
to set up his or her own business, and who owned which part
of a business.
In eastern and northeastern Africa complex civilizations
arose, partly because of infl uences from Asia. Th e most sig-
nifi ca nt nat ions were Ka rma h (ca. 190 0 –ca. 1550 b.c.e.), Kush
(ca. 900 b.c.e.–ca. 350 c.e.), and Axum (ca. 500 b.c.e.–ca. 900
c.e.). Little is known about employment and labor in these
cultures, even though Kush and Axum left written languages.
Th e languages have yet to be translated, leaving inscription
written in foreign languages as the only readable records.
Karmah did a lively business in logging and animals skins,
with its products being traded to Egypt. Karmah had met-
alsmiths, jewelers, cabinetmakers, and potters. Somewhat
more is known about Kush because of its extensive contacts
with Egypt.
Farming was the most important industry in Kush, be-
cause Kush’s sovereignty depended on having its own, secure
supply of food. Most of its wars were fought against nomads
who tried to steal crops and livestock. Caring for Kush’s fi elds
was shared labor, with families or clans cooperating in the
use of water, especially during the dry growing season when
the pouring of water from the Nile into irrigation ditches had
to continue day and night. Cooperative families probably did
this in shift s.
Kush’s economy had to be intricate, and from about 700
b.c.e. to about 250 c.e., it was probably equal in complexity to
the economies of Egypt and Near Eastern countries. Scribes
and priests were the elite workers in Kush, though the laws
governing their behavior are not known. For a time during
the 600s b.c.e. some priests could order a king to commit sui-
cide, and the king would do so. In about 590 b.c.e. a king had
those priests slaughtered, ending their political ascendancy,
though later priests remained important in religious life and
were in general well paid.
Axum was built on trade between Africa and Asia, with
contacts extending to India and perhaps to China. Its soci-
ety was a mix of ethnic groups that formed a unique culture.
Axum had intricate laws governing trade, mostly to make
sure that people did not cheat one another, and it seems that
there were specialists in the laws who were in charge of what
traders did in Axum’s ports and marketplaces. Axum had
complex businesses that employed many people. Construc-
tion workers and scribes seem to have been particularly im-
portant, but until the written language of the Axumites can
be translated, little about its employment and labor practices
prior to the medieval era is likely to be known.EGYPT
BY CHARLOTTE BOOTH
In ancient Egypt it was common for people to work to sustain
their families or to increase their personal wealth. A mon-
etary system was introduced by Alexander the Great in 332
b.c.e.; before this time wages were paid in produce or ser-
vices. Goods, however, were given a relative value according
to weight or volume. For example, grain was measured by the
unit kher, which was roughly equivalent to 20 gallons, and426 employment and labor: Egypt