Trade

Neolith was a breakthrough moment in the history of human development. It was time when man got free from nature (as far as changing of lifestyle is concerned, especially the way of obtaining food). Man didn’t have to travel houndreds of kilometres in order to find food. Due to his inborn craftiness he tamed many secrets of Mother Nature. He began to plant trees and breed animals. We need to remember that it wasn’t a sudden process, which changed a mobile hunter into a settled farmer from one day to the next. New idea for life started to spread all over the earth.

The idea of industry originating from the centre of Middle East was transmitted into European ground within one thousand years, superseding gradually the local hunting groups.

Taming nature and a settled way of life gave rise to substantial technological development. 6000 years ago man began on a big scale extraction of natural resources such as flint. Man didn’t have to travel any longer, he spent his free time on making out new and improving old tools. He made huge settlements where he tranformed the output, then deliver it to many receivers. This is a very simplified example of how the excess of goods resulted in the development of barter trade.

Currently on the basis of material evidence of man activities such as stone, flint, copper tools or clay vessels, archaeologists are trying to reconstruct the development of barter trade in particular societies.

Many cultures developed in Europe in the Stone Age. Only few left its mark on the cultural - industrial sphere. One of such cultures was Funnel –Beaker culture which changed many spheres of everyday life of early Stone Age.

People from this culture in middle Europe started the development of agriculture that used draught animals for transport, intensive extraction of flint deposits or development of "trade" based on the export of flint tools and other products of everyday use, such as leather and wool.

Elements of Funnel Beaker culture mentioned above (trade, agricultural- breeding intensification, technological development) enable the demographic growth, visible all over the area 4500 years ago.

Owing to the characteristic features of materials we can state with high probability from where and which way particular products were transported. Also the characteristic way of production or even the form of an object may betray the place of birth of a given idea and how it spread.

For instance, in archaeologic material from excavation site in Gródek on the Bug river we can observe intracultural influences connected with activities in Ćmielów settlement. Imports which were only small percentage of findings, were a factor strongly influencing many branches of Funnel Beaker culture activities. Some objects were very difficult to obtain, that is why copies from available materials were created. Such an example can be bone copies of copper drills. This is not the only example of how human mind and jelousy, the want to possess some kind of novelty stimulated the development of trade and craft 5000 years ago. We need to remember that people from Funnel - Beaker culture didn’t adopt the foreign cultural - technological achievements totally, but they made use of some of its elements. Particular cultural- technological elements were transformed and implemented into local realia.

Very interesting objects, connected with the problem of trade development and its inluence on Funnel - Beaker people, are clay vessels and technology of its production. High technological level of these vessels is obvious, however an important question arises – how these people learnt such perfect technology. Did it develop among the group of Małopolska by means of trial and error method or maybe they observed the neighbours from east. We will never find precise anwers for these questions. We can only guess that trade contacts with trypol people resulted in improving the local technologies. Findings of elaborate pottery in settlement of Gródek by the Bug river are a proof. It should be emphasized that trypol technology was partly a role model for Funnel-Beaker people. It became an impulse for local creators, implicator of quality. These people were not imitators they created things in their own way, modifying their old patterns. Did Funnel - Beaker people display their independence and achievements in this way? We won’t find out. Nowadays we can admire their masterful pottery found in Gródek and Ćmielów and we can develop various theories – making sense or not. A very interesting fact is that high technological quality that can be found in for example shinings on the surface of vessels, is not visible in smaller settlements of this culture. Is it a proof that not everybody was familiar with new technology? Did the ability of creating "luxurious" pottery become a way of gaining profits from big settlements. In my opinion yes.

Human psyche has many weaknesses, one of them is an appetite that comes with eating. What I meant were profits which some people made owing to the knowledge of new technologies. Are marks of metallurgy of copper in Gródek and Ćmielów a confirmation of that? Were copper valuables produced on the spot? We can say with a high degree of probability that yes. Maybe, these are marks of local experimentators (observers of Trypillian metallurgy masters).
One thing is certain – products, resources and the most important - ideas, were spread owing to trade, curiosity and willingness to become rich.

Every nation draw extensively on the achievements of others. They don’t damage their own cultural works but they try to imrove it. Funnel - Beaker people took care of their tradition, identity and cultural legacy of their fathers. It is certain that "trade" and various contacts were the driving force of development, so much needed in times of taming the nature.

Trade routes