Editing Trade (section)

===Prehistory===
Trade originated from [[history of communication|human communication]] in [[prehistoric]] times. Prehistoric peoples exchanged goods and services with each other in a [[gift economy]] before the innovation of modern-day currency. [[Peter Watson (business writer)|Peter Watson]] dates the [[History of international trade|history of long-distance commerce]] to {{circa|150,000}} years ago.<ref name="Watson2005_150">[[#Watson2005|Watson (2005)]], Introduction.</ref>

In the Mediterranean region, the earliest contact between cultures involved members of the species ''Homo sapiens'', principally using the Danube river, at a time beginning 35,000–30,000 [[Before Present|BP]].<ref name="Abulafia, Rackham, Suano">{{citation |last1=Abulafia |first1=D. |title=The Mediterranean in History |year=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Cvrq-Vs-2wC |access-date=2019-09-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511162132/https://books.google.com/books?id=9Cvrq-Vs-2wC |archive-date=2021-05-11 |url-status=live |publisher=Getty Publications |isbn=978-1-60606-057-5 |quote=[...] the Danube played an extremely important role in connecting East and West before the Mediterranean became the main link between these regions. This period runs for about 25,000 years, from 35,000/30,000 to around 10,000/8,000 before the present. |last2=Rackham |first2=O. |last3=Suano |first3=M. |orig-year=2008}}</ref><ref>Compare: {{cite book |last1=Barbier |first1=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GlveCgAAQBAJ |title=Nature and Wealth: Overcoming Environmental Scarcity and Inequality |date=2015 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1137403391 |chapter=The Origins of Economic Wealth |quote=Even before domestication of plants and animals occurred, long-distance trading networks were prominent among some hunter-gathering societies, such as the Natufians and other sedentary populations who inhabited the Eastern Mediterranean around 12,000–10,000 BC. |access-date=7 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205061931/https://books.google.com/books?id=GlveCgAAQBAJ |archive-date=5 February 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | editor-first=Vilhjalmur | editor-last=Stefansson | editor2-first=Olive Rathbun | editor2-last=Wilcox | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HdJrngEACAAJ&q=%C2%A0ISBN%C2%A01-4179-9090-2 | access-date=2020-01-23 | title=Great Adventures and Explorations: From the Earliest Times to the Present As Told by the Explorers Themselves | publisher=Literary Licensing | year=2013 | isbn=978-1258868482 }}</ref><ref>National Maritime Historical Society. [https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=ancient+mediterranean+obsidian+trading+30%2C000+BC&btnG= ''Sea History'', Issues 13–25]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180915115458/https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=ancient+mediterranean+obsidian+trading+30%2C000+BC&btnG=|date=2018-09-15}}, published by National Maritime Historical Society 1979. Retrieved 2012-06-26.</ref>{{qn|date=September 2019}}

[[File:Caduceus.svg|left|thumb|upright=0.45|The [[caduceus]], traditionally associated with [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]] (the Roman patron-god of merchants), continues in use as a symbol of commerce.<ref>Hans Biedermann, James Hulbert (trans.), ''Dictionary of Symbolism  Cultural Icons and the Meanings behind Them'', p. 54.</ref>]][[File:Attic red-figure Pottery in the Eremitage Sankt Petersburg.jpg|thumb| [[Etruscan art|Ancient Etruscan]] "[[aryballoi]]" terracota vessels unearthed in the 1860s at Bolshaya Bliznitsa tumulus near [[Phanagoria]], [[Southern Russia|South Russia]] (formerly part of the [[Bosporan Kingdom]] of [[Cimmerian Bosporus]], present-day [[Taman Peninsula]]); on exhibit at the [[Hermitage Museum]] in [[Saint Petersburg]]]]
There is evidence of the exchange of [[obsidian]] and [[flint]] during the [[Stone Age]]. Trade in obsidian is believed to have taken place in [[New Guinea]] from 17,000 BCE.<ref>{{cite book|first=Gary George|last= Lowder |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LcESAQAAIAAJ |title=Studies in volcanic petrology: I. Talasea, New Guinea. II. Southwest Utah|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205061518/https://books.google.com/books?id=LcESAQAAIAAJ |archive-date=2021-02-05|publisher= University of California|date= 1970}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | last1 = Darvill
 | first1 = Timothy
 | author-link1 = Timothy Darvill
 | chapter = obsidian
 | title = Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gzEclkBq0u0C
 | series = Oxford Quick Reference
 | edition = 2
 | location = Oxford
 | publisher = Oxford University Press
 | date = 2008
 | isbn = 978-0191579042
 | access-date = 7 September 2019
 | quote = [...] obsidian from [[Talasea]] was traded from at least 17 000 BC.
 | archive-date = 5 February 2021
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210205062256/https://books.google.com/books?id=gzEclkBq0u0C
 | url-status = live
 }}</ref><!-- Is the quote below necessary? -->

{{quote |The earliest use of obsidian in the Near East dates to the Lower and Middle paleolithic.<ref>[[Prince Mikasa|HIH Prince Mikasa no Miya Takahito]] –  [https://books.google.com/books?id=EtiKgdv7C3IC&dq=obsidian+trade&pg=PA141 ''Essays on Anatolian Archaeology''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905185831/https://books.google.com/books?id=EtiKgdv7C3IC&pg=PA141&dq=obsidian+trade&hl=en&sa=X&ei=h9vcT6bWCcGH8gOlvKCOCw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=obsidian%20trade&f=false |date=2015-09-05 }} Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1993 Retrieved 2012-06-16</ref>|  [[Takahito, Prince Mikasa|HIH Prince Mikasa no Miya Takahito]]  }}
[[Robert Carr Bosanquet]] investigated trade in the Stone Age by excavations in 1901.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LDs6AQAAIAAJ |title=The Athenaeum |publisher=J. Francis |year=1904 |editor=Rendall |editor-first=Vernon Horace |access-date=2016-10-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111030725/https://books.google.com/books?id=LDs6AQAAIAAJ |archive-date=2020-01-11 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Donald A. Mackenzie. [[iarchive:in.gov.ignca.2457/page/n360|<!-- pg=252 quote=Mr Bosanquet Obsidian. --> Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic Europe]] – [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/moc/moc19.htm published 1917]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411124523/https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/moc/moc19.htm|date=2021-04-11}} – {{ISBN|1-60506-375-4}}. Retrieved 2012-06-09.</ref> The first clear archaeological evidence of trade in manufactured goods is found in south west Asia.<ref>{{citation |author=Smith |first=R. L. |title=Premodern Trade in World History |date=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ewjeoio1U-QC&q=Obsidian+trade&pg=PA20 |access-date=2012-06-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205191139/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ewjeoio1U-QC&q=Obsidian+trade&pg=PA20 |archive-date=2021-02-05 |url-status=live |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-42476-9}}</ref><ref>P. Singh. [https://books.google.com/books?id=k7RLTPocdhIC&q=obsidian+trade Neolithic cultures of western Asia], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905184028/https://books.google.com/books?id=k7RLTPocdhIC&q=obsidian+trade&dq=obsidian+trade&hl=en&sa=X&ei=gv_pT6D1NYTK0QXtrJSqAQ&ved=0CFEQ6AEwBTgK|date=2015-09-05}}, Seminar Press, 20 August 1974.</ref>

Archaeological evidence of obsidian use provides data on how this material was increasingly the preferred choice rather than [[chert]] from the late Mesolithic to Neolithic, requiring exchange as deposits of obsidian are rare in the Mediterranean region.<ref name="John Robb"/><ref>P. Goldberg, V. T. Holliday, C. Reid Ferring. [https://books.google.com/books?id=eNI0yIPzeV8C&dq=ancient+mediterranean+obsidian+trading+Mesolithic&pg=PA450 Earth Sciences and Archaeology]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205062227/https://books.google.com/books?id=eNI0yIPzeV8C&pg=PA450&dq=ancient+mediterranean+obsidian+trading+Mesolithic&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8VfsT5CpJYXB0gWChqH6DA&ved=0CFIQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=ancient%20mediterranean%20obsidian%20trading%20Mesolithic&f=false|date=2021-02-05}}. Springer, 2001, {{ISBN|0-306-46279-6}}. Retrieved 2012-06-28.</ref><ref>S. L. Dyson, R. J. Rowland. [https://books.google.com/books?id=fw4XuEbKnQwC&dq=obsidian+rare+Sardinia&pg=PA24 Archaeology And History In Sardinia From The Stone Age To The Middle Ages: Shepherds, Sailors, & Conquerors]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905194400/https://books.google.com/books?id=fw4XuEbKnQwC&pg=PA24&dq=obsidian+rare+Sardinia&hl=en&sa=X&ei=BVrsT_G2OKr80QWj2u35DA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=obsidian%20rare%20Sardinia&f=false|date=2015-09-05}}. University of Pennsylvania – Museum of Archaeology, 2007, {{ISBN|1-934536-02-4}}. Retrieved 2012-06-28.</ref>

Obsidian provided the material to make cutting utensils or tools, although since other more easily obtainable materials were available, use was exclusive to the higher status of the tribe using "the rich man's flint".<ref>{{cite book
 | last1 = Smith
 | first1 = Richard L.
 | title = Premodern Trade in World History
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WBB9AgAAQBAJ
 | series = Themes in World History
 | publisher = Routledge
 | date = 2008
 | page = 19
 | isbn = 978-1134095803
 | access-date = 7 September 2019
 | quote = [...] modern observers have sometimes referred to obsidian as 'rich man's flint.'
 | archive-date = 22 May 2020
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200522142440/https://books.google.com/books?id=WBB9AgAAQBAJ
 | url-status = live
 }}</ref> Obsidian has held its value relative to flint.

Early traders traded Obsidian at distances of 900 kilometres within the Mediterranean region.<ref>{{cite journal | year = 1995 | title =  Obsidian in the Mediterranean and the Near East: A Provenancing Success Story| journal = Archaeometry | volume = 37 | issue = 2| pages = 217–48 | doi = 10.1111/j.1475-4754.1995.tb00740.x | last1 =  Williams-Thorpe| first1 =  O.| bibcode = 1995Archa..37..217W}}</ref>

Trade in the Mediterranean during the Neolithic of Europe was greatest in this material.<ref name="John Robb">{{citation |author=Robb |first=J. |title=The Early Mediterranean Village: Agency, Material Culture, and Social Change in Neolithic Italy |date=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0HeNr9h56uEC&q=Obsidian+trade&pg=PA192 |access-date=2012-06-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205191143/https://books.google.com/books?id=0HeNr9h56uEC&q=Obsidian+trade&pg=PA192 |archive-date=2021-02-05 |url-status=live |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-84241-9}}.</ref><ref>[[Douglas Harper]]. [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=obsidian&searchmode=none etymology online]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702135106/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=obsidian&searchmode=none|date=2017-07-02}}. Retrieved 2012-06-09.</ref> Networks were in existence at around 12,000 BCE<ref name="Andrea">{{citation |author=A. J. Andrea |title=World History Encyclopedia, Volume 2 |date=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LEqaIGsT8SsC&q=Obsidian+trade&pg=PA250 |access-date=2012-06-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205061932/https://books.google.com/books?id=LEqaIGsT8SsC&q=Obsidian+trade&pg=PA250 |archive-date=2021-02-05 |url-status=live |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-85109-930-6}}.</ref> Anatolia was the source primarily for trade with the Levant, Iran and Egypt according to Zarins study of 1990.<ref>T. A. H. Wilkinson. [https://www.amazon.in/Early-Dynastic-Egypt-Toby-Wilkinson/dp/0415260116 Early Dynastic Egypt: Strategies, Society and Security]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408170918/https://www.amazon.in/Early-Dynastic-Egypt-Toby-Wilkinson/dp/0415260116|date=2022-04-08}}.</ref><ref>(secondary) [https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:acg1cm48mxgJ:members.peak.org/~obsidian/iaos_bulletin_47.pdf+&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShIssrzLSZAQFAOh75-RrGy3wg6wNqo9ntCUsyJRi-i-xrnGfH0qXyI7BX79sPElP2eIG9xqfmYVmWcu7maromIGVzNfV7fQWb-814pF_vNUN58lx8iH7suXw9vORtbdjIVGF4N&sig=AHIEtbTV_EDsivnNauYErE3qYl_ITULeXA&pli=1]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523171225/https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache%3Aacg1cm48mxgJ%3Amembers.peak.org%2F~obsidian%2Fiaos_bulletin_47.pdf+&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShIssrzLSZAQFAOh75-RrGy3wg6wNqo9ntCUsyJRi-i-xrnGfH0qXyI7BX79sPElP2eIG9xqfmYVmWcu7maromIGVzNfV7fQWb-814pF_vNUN58lx8iH7suXw9vORtbdjIVGF4N&sig=AHIEtbTV_EDsivnNauYErE3qYl_ITULeXA&pli=1|date=2022-05-23}} + [[iarchive:emergenceofcivil0000unse/page/441|<!-- quote=obsidian trade. -->]] + [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vzs8bFFnVeoC&dq=earliest+obsidian+trading&pg=PA305]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905215239/https://books.google.com/books?id=Vzs8bFFnVeoC&pg=PA305&dq=earliest+obsidian+trading&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xrLTT5XKLLOY1AWIlLWSBA&ved=0CEsQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=earliest%20obsidian%20trading&f=false|date=2015-09-05}} + [https://books.google.com/books?id=TzrNgAsJY1MC&dq=Archaeology+Colin+Renfrew+Obsidian&pg=PA19]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905215724/https://books.google.com/books?id=TzrNgAsJY1MC&pg=PA19&dq=Archaeology+Colin+Renfrew+Obsidian&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fpXTT6-vAcis0QXgwcmNBA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Archaeology%20Colin%20Renfrew%20Obsidian&f=false|date=2015-09-05}} + [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZEqJxH6Oo1gC&dq=obsidian+trade&pg=PA168]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905193221/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZEqJxH6Oo1gC&pg=PA168&dq=obsidian+trade&hl=fr&sa=X&ei=6obTT9_2Lqml0AWm2ZC7BA&ved=0CGUQ6AEwCDgy#v=onepage&q=obsidian%20trade&f=false|date=2015-09-05}}.</ref><ref name="Pliny the Elder">{{citation |author=(was secondary) [[Pliny the Elder]] (translated by [[John Bostock (physician)|J Bostock]], [[Henry Thomas Riley|H T Riley]]) |title=The natural history of Pliny |volume=6 |year=1857 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IEoMAAAAIAAJ&q=Obsius&pg=PA381 |access-date=2012-06-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205061515/https://books.google.com/books?id=IEoMAAAAIAAJ&q=Obsius&pg=PA381 |archive-date=2021-02-05 |url-status=live |publisher=H. G. Bohn |isbn=978-1-85109-930-6}}</ref> [[Melos]] and [[Lipari]] sources produced among the most widespread trading in the Mediterranean region as known to archaeology.<ref name="E Blake, A B Knapp">{{citation |last1=Blake |first1=Emma |title=The Archaeology Of Mediterranean Prehistory |date=2008-04-15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F15vfrJq8LUC&q=ancient+mediterranean+obsidian+trading&pg=PA35 |access-date=2012-06-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205061516/https://books.google.com/books?id=F15vfrJq8LUC&q=ancient+mediterranean+obsidian+trading&pg=PA35 |archive-date=2021-02-05 |url-status=live |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, 21 February 2005 |isbn=978-0-631-23268-1 |last2=Knapp |first2=A. Bernard}}.</ref>

The [[Sar-i Sang|Sari-i-Sang]] mine in the mountains of Afghanistan was the largest source for trade of [[lapis lazuli]].<ref>Toby A. H. Wilkinson. [https://books.google.com/books?id=AR1ZZO6niVIC&dq=anatolian+obsidian&pg=PA164 Early Dynastic Egypt: Strategies, Society and Security]. Routledge, 8 August 2001. Retrieved 2012-07-03.{{Dead link|date=December 2016}}
</ref><ref>{{cite book | first=Dominique | last=Collon | author-link=Dominique Collon | title=Near Eastern Seals | publisher=University of California Press | year=1990 | page=33 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xt8fydZIT4IC&pg=PA33 | isbn=0-520-07308-8 | access-date=2012-07-03 | archive-date=2022-08-07 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220807160419/https://books.google.com/books?id=xt8fydZIT4IC&pg=PA33 | url-status=dead }}</ref> The material was most largely traded during the [[Kassites|Kassite period]] of Babylonia beginning 1595 BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vermaak |first=P. S. |title=The Babylonian world |date=2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1134261284 |editor-last=Leick |editor-first=Gwendolyn |editor-link=Gwendolyn Leick |page=520 |chapter=Relations between Babylonia and the Levant during the Kassite period |access-date=2015-06-27 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=akYorRIWPBEC&pg=PA520 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905184557/https://books.google.com/books?id=akYorRIWPBEC&pg=PA520&dq=lapis+lazuli+trade&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HD3zT66gG8eP8gOYuZi_CQ&redir_esc=y |archive-date=2015-09-05 |url-status=dead}} Routledge 2007. Retrieved 2012-07-03. {{ISBN|1-134-26128-4}}.</ref><ref>S. Bertman. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1C4NKp4zgIQC&pg=PT104 Handbook To Life In Ancient Mesopotamia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905185754/https://books.google.com/books?id=1C4NKp4zgIQC&pg=PT104|date=2015-09-05}} Oxford University Press, 2005. Retrieved 2012-07-03. {{ISBN|0-19-518364-9}}.</ref>

Adam Smith traces the origins of commerce to the very start of [[Financial transaction|transactions]] in [[prehistoric]] times. Apart from traditional [[self-sufficiency]], trading became a principal [[cognitive skill|faculty]] for prehistoric people, who [[barter]]ed what they had for goods and services from each other. Anthropologists have found no evidence of barter systems that did not exist alongside systems of credit.