Economy and exchange

Abstract The economics of past societies has traditionally been one of the most important topics of scientific archaeology. On one hand, economic activities are related to fundamental human survival and have always been part of the daily routine of an individual or small family group. On the other, the study of past economies is inevitably associated with the broad historical context in which archaeology as a discipline originated and further developed. For that reason, this chapter combines theoretical perspectives that include a wide range of economies, from domestic to political, traditional to modern, gift economies to commodity economy. The chapter consists of four parts: it reviews the historical development of economic archaeology, relates economic development to social complexity, discusses the categories and classes of items that have been produced and used in different cultural contexts, and explores distribution, namely the trade and exchange activities in which goods become gifts and commodities.