Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Ancient World

Much of later Indian history focuses on the spread of

Aryan nomads and their Vedic culture southward through

India. Th ese nomads were a warrior people who put great

store in military honor and the conquest of rival nations, yet

much of southern India developed nations because of trade,

not war. Th e peoples of southern India conducted a lively

trade with each other before, during, and aft er the rise and

fall of the Maurya Empire of about 321–185 b.c.e. and the

Gupta Empire of 320–499 c.e.

Th e Indians of the interior formed caravans of wagons

carrying goods not only produced in their own regions but

also imported from other lands, thus bearing Chinese silks

westward and Roman pottery eastward. Th e wagons trans-

ported muslin, saff ron, ivory, agate, diamonds, pearls, eb-

ony, and teak across roads to seaports. Governments arose

to regulate the trade and maintain the roads. Leaders called

Shatavahanas, whom historians consider somewhat mysteri-

ous fi gures, arose to foster trade and lead disparate peoples

who organized themselves into trading nations.

India became a great generator of wealth for the Old

World, trading with Africa, Rome, Persia, China, southeast-

ern Asia, and the Indonesian islands. Th ey established trad-

ing centers on the Malaysian peninsula, bringing their culture

with them. In Indochina, the kingdom of Funan emerged as

a trading nation that may have been similar to those of India.

According to Chinese records, Funan was cofounded by an

Indian trader.

Along India’s western and eastern coasts arose trading

cities. Th e ancient Romans sailed through the Indian Ocean

to establish trading centers on the western coast, and these

centers thrived for hundreds of years. In about 170 c.e. the

Roman Empire suff ered a recession so severe that Indians

suff ered economically and the Shatavahanas withdrew their

trade from the west coast. To the east trade continued to

thrive, with Indians opening trade with the regions of pres-

ent-day Th ailand and Burma, overland and by sea.

Sri Lanka, a large island in Mare Erythraeum (the pres-

ent-day Indian Ocean) off the southeastern tip of India, was

a way station for explorers, travels, and traders from Europe,

Africa, the Near East, India, Malaysia, Indochina, Sumatra,

Java, and China. From the 200s b.c.e. to the 1200s c.e. Sri

Lanka was ruled by the Sinhalese kingdom.

Th e Sinhalese kingdom became rich from charging fees

to the traders whose ships stopped in its ports. Government

offi cials managed port facilities and docks effi ciently. Ports

teemed with trading fl eets from Rome, Axum, Arabia, Persia,

India, and Malaysia. Th e docks and city streets were a col-

orful mix of the national garb of dozens of diff erent lands.

Th e visitors mixed with pious monks and local people sell-

ing their wares. Especially popular were the bountiful agri-

cultural products of Sri Lanka, such as coconuts, bananas,

mangos, passion fruit, papayas, oranges, and tamarinds. Th e

exotic fl avors of those fruits would have been welcomed by

travelers aft er weeks at sea. In addition to fruits, the Sinhalese

sold rice, sugarcane, and cotton. Th anks to an irrigation sys-

tem of 200 miles of canals, they had three harvests of rice per

year. Th e Sinhalese were skilled water engineers who could

build irrigation canals with only 6-inch rises per mile, and

they knew the world was spherical and off ered expert naviga-

tion skills to trading vessels.

EUROPE

BY FRANCESCO MENOTTI

Trade and exchange systems of the past have always been an

important focus of research in archaeology. Studying trade

and exchange can be diffi cult, however, especially within pre-

literate societies. In fact, scholars have available only what

those societies left behind and time has preserved, such as

archaeological artifacts. But useful information can be ex-

trapolated from those seemingly useless remains. For in-

stance, the materials from which artifacts are made can play a

crucial role in identifying the movement of goods and recon-

structing ancient exchange networks. Numerous methods

of analysis have been developed to recognize and determine

the origins of specifi c materials (stones, shells, metals, and so

on) and to reconstruct production and distribution as well

as the exchange system organization. Such analysis focuses

on the various mechanisms of distribution that character-

ized ancient trade networks, from direct access to goods to

down-the-line trade and eventually to a fully developed port

of trade.

Beyond the simple economic value of traded goods, the

meaning of exchange systems is also important. For example,

in some instances symbolic elements might be predominant

over other, more logical aspects. Circulation of ideas and

communication of information imbedded in people’s social

behavior are therefore vital in understanding social contacts.

To understand trade and exchange systems in prehistoric Eu-

rope, fi rst it is necessary to divide the geographical area into

conventional archaeological periods: Mesolithic (ca. 8000–

4000 b.c.e.), Neolithic (ca. 7000–ca. 2000 b.c.e.), Bronze Age

(ca. 2800–ca. 700 b.c.e.), Iron Age (ca. 1000–ca. 500 b.c.e.),

and Roman times (ca. 400 b.c.e.–476 c.e.). Note that the dates

provided apply to only the European continent as a whole and

vary according to latitude and longitude.

Although it is fl imsy and localized, evidence of trade and

exchange in Europe does exist from the Mesolithic. Th e Me-

solithic is an important transitional period in Europe, during

which hunter-gatherer communities underwent signifi cant

changes in technology, economy, and social organization. Th e

constantly changing environment triggered a steady develop-

ment in tool technology, passing from bone and antler tools

and the microlith (blade) industry common in the early Me-

solithic to the various kinds of axes (fi rst unpolished and then

polished) in the later part of the period. In fact, the scarce

availability of primary sources of raw materials in some areas

was the primary factor initiating mobility, social interaction,

and exchange systems. Despite evidence of material circula-

tion on vast territories (obsidian in southeastern Europe and

trade and exchange: Europe 1101

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