Economic Prehistory: Six Transitions That Shaped The World

Around 15,000 years ago, humans lived in small mobile foraging bands, but by 5,000 years ago, the first city-states had emerged, leading to a radical transformation in human society. This revolution was caused by climate change, which interacted with geography to drive technological innovation and population growth. The accumulation of population at rich locations led to the creation of group property rights, stratification into elite and commoner classes, and warfare among rival elites, setting the stage for urbanization and elite-controlled states.

Format: Hardback
Length: 425 pages
Publication date: 05 January 2023
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Around 15,000 years ago, the majority of humans resided in small mobile foraging bands. By approximately 5,000 years ago, the first city-states had emerged. This profound shift in human society laid the groundwork for the modern world. To explain six key aspects of this revolution, we employ economic logic and archaeological evidence. In our approach, climate change serves as the ultimate catalyst for these events. We demonstrate how shifts in climate interacted with geography to drive technological innovation and population growth. The concentration of population in particularly affluent regions gave rise to the establishment of group property rights over land, stratification into elite and commoner classes, and warfare among rival elites. This set the stage for urbanization based on manufacturing or military defense and for elite-controlled states based on taxation. Our concluding chapter illustrates how these developments ultimately led to contemporary global civilization.

Weight: 1000g
Dimension: 134 x 236 x 44 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781108839907