Bare-bones summaries of current research papers relating to the Paleolithic in Franco-Iberia. Basic data, graphics and links only. News items to be fleshed out on the 2015 tour. Part 2 addresses new finds of fossils and artifacts and the interpretation of archaeological materials, including reports on the complex cultural activities of Neandertals. News items are presented in prehistoric chronological order.
4. 15 ka, all humans lived by foraging wild animals
and plants. Exploiting such resources worked best
when people lived in tiny bands and moved
around a lot. Individual foragers could not build
much wealth or power. They tended to be very
poor but very equal.
SoL: $1.10 per day (1990 values)
12 ka, foragers numbered 6 million
11 ka, population exploded with farming
2 ka, farmers numbered 250 million
By 1800 AD, foraging was almost extinct
With farming, big social groups stayed in one place
working their fields. They flourished at the expense
of smaller, less sedentary ones. Farmers were
typically richer than foragers
SoL: $1.50-$2.20 per day
Farming’s effect on wealth distribution
To each age its inequality
Ian Morris
New York Times, July 9, 2015
Farming needed more complicated divisions of
labor than foraging. Some people became
aristocrats or godlike kings; others became
peasants or slaves. Economic inequality surged.
5. Exotic objects of the European Neolithic
Signs of Wealth: Inequalities in the Neolithic
National Museum of Prehistory, Les Eyzies
June 27 to November 15, 2015
As Neolithic communities dispersed into
Europe, 8-4.2 ka, they brought new
techniques for making and ornamenting
material culture. Intricate manufacturing
could produce very beautiful pieces.
High-value items usually signified wealth
and distinction for the owner. Some were
hoarded to be used in relations between
the elites or with supernatural powers.
High-value items often featured exotic raw
materials, some traveling hundreds of
kilometers from quarry to workshop.
Likewise, finished pieces, including
necklaces, daggers, axes, bracelets, could
circulate for long distances and times.
Signs of Wealth features "object sign"
artifacts in exotic materials still valuable in
our day (jade, gold, turquoise, jet, etc).
(Larick’s paraphrase)