When does it all start: The beginnings of long distance trade

By the Iron Age all over the world, humans are exchanging things - as tribute, as gifts, as taxes, or as trade and sometimes over very long distances indeed. But when does this start? We will be looking at evidence from Eurasia (and a bit of Africa) that allows us to trace the rise of exchanging things over long distances, and which substances are particularly of interest to the people then, and to archaeologists now. We will be talking about tin, amber, obsidian, spices, stones and dyes, amongst others, but we will also look at early records from Mesopotamia and elsewhere and discuss how we are able to determine what the character of the exchange is. How do you tell a gift from tribute, and how do you define real trade?

2 October: Where it all starts? Trade in the Palaeolithic?
9 October: Trading in stone I
16 October: Trading in stone II
23 October: Obsidian in raw material and as finished objects