From wikipedia:

Contrary to popular conception, there is no evidence that societies relied only on barter before using money for trade.[73] Instead, non-monetary societies operated primarily along the principles of gift economics, and in more complex economies, on debt.[74][75][76] When barter occurred, it was usually between strangers or would-be enemies.[77]

  • AkasazhEnglish
    3·
    1 month ago

    Thanks for the recommendation! I had a reminiscent Reddit reflex, where I looked the writer up to see if it wasn’t a ‘guns, germs and steel’ type of popular history, but was pleasantly surprised.

    I have a bunch of reading to do now. Cheers!