In the set of modern economic analyses, we can find questions that fluctuate over everything that determines the prices of goods and services. Also how the profits of an economic function are distributed. And what defines the implication of wages, interest rates, profits and other elements that are part of production.
Since the end of the 18th century, an approximate date that is still considered key in the development of the modern economy, mainly due to the ideas of Adam Smith, questions about value and distribution continue to be those of greatest interest in the social group. However, these observations were totally sterile in ancient times because the production and the consumption had the family unit as their nucleus, that is, there was no need for a theoretical regulation about the prices and, with the presence of slavesa theory that established wages was not necessary.
The origin of civilization and the role of the economy.
The retreat of the last glaciers, between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago, introduced a series of geographic and climatic changes that led, in turn, to a transformation in the lifestyles of our ancestors and the beginning of a new era known as the Holocene in which we are currently. The arrival of a better climate, especially in Eurasia and North America, meant the extinction of a fauna that until then had been the fundamental basis of the diet of our ancestors at the end of the Paleolithic. Both the woolly rhinoceros and the mammoth became extinct; the reindeer were forced to migrate north; and in the areas of Central Asia and Africa, whose areas became, human groups were forced to emigrate or adapt to the new environment. Enormous forests appeared in the vicinity of the Alps, as well as in the high areas of the eastern end of the Mediterranean where large extensions of grass originated.
Approximately 4,500 years after the retreat of the last glacier (Würm), a great technological development can be seen in the areas of the Near and Middle East. Flint utensils, as well as artistic and religious items, became increasingly complex and elaborate. Carved stone was progressively replaced by polished stone. It is just at this precise moment that we can begin to speak of the term Neolithic or “new stone”. However, the milestones that marked this prehistoric period were the discovery of agriculture and the domestication of animals. It is not known with certainty when these events took place or where. It is also not known if they occurred at the same time or at different times. In spite of everything, the hypothesis has been maintained that the oldest testimonies of these processes would be found in the so-called Fertile Crescent, the space that is found on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, extends through the mountains of Syria and Iraq, and It continues through the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers until it reaches the Persian Gulf.
The most accepted data regarding the origin of domestication and agriculture date back to before 8,000 BC What is known for sure is that from 6,000 BC, agriculture, whose activity allowed the presence of wheat and barley, and the domestication of sheep, goats, and pigs, were highly developed in western Iran (even reaching the Mediterranean coast), Anatolia, and the Aegean Sea.
Human groups were able to settle more effectively in the middle. In addition, it allowed them to collect surpluses that, in turn, were transformed into time for other activities not necessarily related to the subsistence of the group, such as art or religion. These momentous changes for humanity were the result of a very slow process that is estimated to take hundreds and even thousands of years. Agricultural techniques were perfected more and more, until a time came when hunting activities were losing their essentiality. In spite of everything, hunting always remained an emblematic activity in the way of life of our ancestors and as a complementary activity to the diet of our ancestors.
One of the great consequences of the appearance of agriculture was the development of a system capable of supplying our ancestors with resources. On the other hand, this system allowed the population to grow. Agriculture expanded reaching the Nile Valley before 4000 BC and the Indus Valley shortly before 3000 BC During the third millennium BC it was already established in the Danube Valley, the western Mediterranean, southern Russia and China . In turn, new technical variants were introduced depending on the different climates and resources. Millet and soybean seeds abound in China. From the year 1,500 BC, the base of agriculture in Southeast Asia will be rice; in terms of domestication we will find, in this last area, the presence of the water buffalo. In the steppes of southern Russia and Central Asia, agriculture was not developed to a great extent and grazing will stand out above all; It is very likely that in these areas the horse began to be domesticated from the third millennium.
The life of the human groups improved if we compare it with the life model of the groups of hunters and gatherers. Food availability was safer and more regular; however, as the population adjusted to the available resources, they remained on the edge of subsistence. For this reason, any imbalance related to a natural catastrophe could seriously undermine the groups. On the other hand, with a larger population, epidemics were much more frequent. It is very significant to say that the average life expectancy did not exceed twenty-five years.
Premature archaeological finds have revealed the existence of societies with a structure that is not very similar to that of agricultural tribes and which can be identified as cities. A city found in the Anatolian peninsula, specifically in Catal Hüyük, from the mid-seventh millennium, had houses with very similar structures and sizes, very close to each other and made with clay and brick materials also with very regular sizes, which could imply a highly systematized division of labour.
Numerous remains of obsidian have been found that were extracted and transported, hypothetically, from volcanic areas located more than a hundred kilometers away, possibly from the Hasan volcano.
Another of the great finds of this type before the first great civilizations known to history is the Neolithic settlement of Jericho with evidence of having been inhabited around 8,000 BC. This place had a stone wall made in earlier dates to 7,000 BC
With almost total certainty that there were many other cities with chronologies previous to those of the appearance of the civilizations around the great rivers of Egypt and Mesopotamia. The exact tasks of these proto-cities and their temporal lineage that reflects a base of their foundation is unknown. The belief that they served as industrial and commercial centers for a set of smaller agricultural centers located in their surroundings is very feasible, which could demonstrate, in turn, an economic and social complexity that was not believed possible for such remote times.
The first great known civilization in history and its economic development.
Around the year 5,000 BC, the territory of Lower Mesopotamia, an area located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and north of the Persian Gulf, had a very poor population density because the flooding of the rivers made work prematurely Neolithic hoe turned out to be very complicated. On the other hand, mineral resources were very scarce and, above all, the absence of stone for construction reflected a very unsuitable land for human habitation. In spite of everything, approximately a thousand years later, the first great culture studied by history will settle in this territory: Sumer. It is in this civilization where we are going to find large human concentrations, cities, monumental architecture and a great development in terms of religious, literary and artistic aspects that will influence other cultures. The quintessential economic support of this civilization will be agriculture.
The annual flooding of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers allowed, through a complex system of drainage and canals, to keep the land fertile. This required a large number of labor that was totally dependent on an elite made up of priests and warriors who governed the entire population, mainly made up of farmers and artisans, but also a large number of slaves.
The rise of civilization meant further development in terms of the division of labor and the economy. The artisans will be distinguished by the elaboration of fabrics and ceramics. As we have mentioned before, this geographical area had few mineral resources and therefore was forced to trade with less advanced cultures which, in turn, produced a rapid expansion of the ideas and customs of the Sumerian civilization. The great scarcity of stone probably caused other measures to be adopted, such as the use of copper and bronze, which were also imported like stone, but were cheaper because they were used for more activities. With this, metallurgy became an important element for the Sumer region.
One of the most momentous episodes of this period was the invention of writing. Its origin is totally related to economics and it will be the element that will contribute the most influence to the rest of the civilizations.
The first cities, such as Uruk, Ur and Lagash, were cities organized around a temple, that is, economic-religious organizations governed by an ecclesiastical-type hierarchy. The components of this hierarchy were in charge of collecting taxes and, for this, they needed a mechanism that would allow them to create records, thus writing emerged. The first clay tablets with simple pictograms date back to before 3,000 BC.
The numerous raids in search of raw materials served as an incentive to the primitive civilizations of Egypt, Anatolia, the eastern Mediterranean and the Indus Valley. These were progressively organizing themselves to try to defend themselves from said incursions, and with the passage of time they reached commercial agreements between them. Of all these, Egypt and the Indus Valley were identified with Mesopotamia in the sense that they were also fluvial, that is, they depended on the control of the floods of the rivers to survive.
All the lands were owned by the temple and managed by the priests. The concept of ownership…