Mechanics of Trade in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic
Trade in these period went through dramatic change, moving from person-to-person to state-organized trade.
An early system of accounting developed in the Neolithic period to keep track of goods and services moving in and out of centralized storehouses and continued for millenia. The clay disks are the size of game tokens and depict everyday items that would have been exchanged such as cloth, honey, lambs, sheep, cow, dog, loaves of bread, ropes, wool, rugs and units of work. These discs or tokens were used to keep track of what went in and out of the temple storehouse. An individual bringing their goods to the temple might receive a token as proof that this transaction took place.
Multiple tokens could be placed in a clay envelopes, called bullae. There would be a depiction on the outside of the bullae which represented the contents inside, this system would allow the envelope to be sealed with the discs safely inside and protected from tampering, thus insuring the proper quantity of goods or services to be rendered to the temple by the bearer. The use of these bullae and tokens predates the development of cuneiform, and provide us with important information about how a preliterate society managed its finances. The bullae themselves likely represent an early form of contract. Each object represents a promise or an oath t0 provide some material. The fact that the bullae protect the tokens provides further evidence for their legal use. They sheathe the token from tampering, a testament to their value. |
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