Topic 2: Prehistoric Economics and the Neolithic TransitionI. The Paleolithic Era.II. The Neolithic EraTopic 2: Prehistoric Economics and the Neolithic TransitionI. The Paleolithic Era.A. Hunter/Gather economy. —“nasty, brutish, and short”—Thomas HobbesLife expectancy 20 yearsHigh infant and child mortality:<50% lived to age 10B.1. Marshal Sahlins’ “Uneconomic” man a. Limited wantsb. No storage/wealth accumulationc. The “Original Affluent Society?”2. Nomadic hunting bands（consisting of about half dozen families（ lived mainly off large game, hairy mammoths and wooly rhinoceros.a. Adult males hunted.b. Women and children gathered edible berries, plants and fruits.c. Probably met needs by working justa few hours a day.3. Very harsh, subsistence living, survival highly dependent on luck.a. Simple stone tools date back as far as 2.5-2.6 Million years ago.b. Same tools as 1.8 Million years ago. c. Technological stasis of 800,000 years.4. Great advances in Upper Paleolithic “Old Stone Age” period (35,000-10,000B.C.)a. Stone, horn, and bone tools from about 25,000 B.C.b. Evidence of “living beyond” surviving.  Beads and other jewelry and carvings.  Cave paintings from N. Spain and SW France show well-developed artistic skills. Evidence that humans began to live to more than just hunt, Emergence of religious beliefs and ceremonies.C. The end of the Paleolithic (Old Stone) Age1. Retreat of the last glaciers 8,000-10,000 B.C.2. Extinction of mammoths and the northern migration of other animals (game). Extinction of mammoths and northern retreat of other animals (game) 3. Polishing and grinding of tools (New stone age)4. Establishment of AgricultureII. The Neolithic EraA. The Neolithic Revolution1. North and Thomas’ model.a. Initial CRS to hunting- High returns,no lost efficiency. Double the population (hunters), double the yield (meat)b. Then, DRS-Diminishing returns to scale eventually. Adding more people to the hunt does not yield the same increasing in out put. c. CRS to agriculture. Land is plentiful. If you have twice as manypeople, just farm twice as much land, and you’ll have twice as much food. Constant Returns to Scale. Double the farmers, double the output.2. The role of population growth. Eventually got to a point where the game was overhunted, but it took a really long time.Population initially grew quite slowly (high mortality) and game was plentiful, but eventually game became overhunted 3. The importance of property rights.a. Hunting is common resource. No incentive to limit your hunting to the point where game can replenish itself. If you don’t kill the beast today, a competing band will kill it tomorrow.b. Agriculture implies communal property rights.If your tribe improves the land; it ”belongs o you”c. Exclusion of outsiders. Your tribe plants crops, they belong to you, and you protect them from other tribes.Security to assure outside tribes are not stealing cropsd. Regulation of insiders. Make sure everyone is working.Make sure tribe members are “pulling their weight”4. The model and what we know.a. Extinction of mammoths—implications for returns to hunting.That settled agriculture occurred atthe same time. Either due to overhunting and/or climate change (ice age) that large game was not available, new food source necessary.When large game disappeared farming emerges. Both due to climate changes as well as overhuntingb. Hoe culture (Differences in returns for men vs. women) While hunting was initially, more productive than farming. Farming has always been more productive than gathering. It makes sense that women would be the first farmers. Hoe culture refersto early agricultural efforts by women using primitive hoes. First Sharpened sticks, then stick with a stone blade attached, eventually metal hoes. Eventually began domesticating animals and cultivating grains and vegetables while men hunted. Model is a story of relative returns. Hunting was initially more productive than farming, farming has always been more productive than gathering. Women were the first farmers, began domesticating animals and cultivating grains and vegetables while men hunted. Early farming efforts called ”hoeculture” refers to using sharpened sticks to put seeds into groud.c. Trial and error in agriculture (Returns to scale). As best practices learned, and passed down, returns to agriculture increased. (rose)d. Establishments in the fertile crescents. Independently in Mesopotamia, North China, and Meso America. Areas best suited toearly agriculture.B. Early agriculture, by 6,000 B.C.1. Cultivation of wheat and barley2. Domestication of sheep, goats, pigs, and possibly cattle.3. Spread outward slowly from Western Iran (1km per year!)4. Increasing fertility offset gains in food supply, but fewer (less)variables.5. Still, life expectancy did not increase due to more frequent spread of infectious diseases.C. Acceleration in technological advancement,specialization, and division of labor.1. Gold and copper, then bronze.2. By 4,000 B.C. metal tools added to stone implements.3. More plants under cultivation, more animals domesticated.4. Hoes (first sharpened sticks, then sticks with a stone blade, then metal, animal-pulled plows by 3,000 B.C. And even a sowing plow by 2,000 BCE)5. Textiles-- linen weaving from 5000 B.C.6. Basket weaving and pottery for storage.D. Effects of settled agriculture and other advances.1. Specialization（trade.2. More permanent settlement, housing.3. Formation of villages, then cities.E. Early Civilization—Mesopotamia1. What do we mean by “Civilizationa. Organized States - definite boundaries and systematic politicalinstitutions, under political and religious leaders who directed and maintained society.b. Distinct social classesc. Economic specialization and interdependence: farmer, trader, and artisan mutually dependent on one another.d. Conscious development of arts andintellectual attitudes. Architecture and sculpture Use of writing to keep records and commemorate deeds The elaboration of religious views about the nature of the gods, their relations to men, andthe origins of the world2. How and why? The earliest civilizations emerged in Mesopotamia, the area bet.Tigris and Euphrates, (around 3500 B.C. Collection of old Sumerian cities. ) First Empire of Sargon of Akkad (2350-2300 B.C.E) brought cities of Sumer and Akkad under one rule. Eventually give rise to the Babylonian Empire. Why