A success story of trade in Old Europe – valuable lessons for contemporary economic life

The economy of Old Europe was based upon two functional cornerstones: the cultivation of grain, vegetables and herbs, as well as trade. Old Europeans began building their trade network around 6000 BCE. The length and extent of the trade routes grew impressively: the heartland of Old Europe was economically connected to islands in the Mediterranean. There were also connections to Southern Italy, Spain, France and Southern England, as well as Central Europe and the Baltic region.

Above all, the trade routes followed rivers such as the Danube and its tributaries. The longest route, about 3000 km, extended from the coast of the Aegean Sea to Western Europe. Spondylus shells were transported by this route. Whole shells were used as decorations, and they were also ground into a powder to lighten pottery clay. As mentioned earlier, the Old European trade network was like a prototype of the modern European single market.

Europeans were successful traders many millennia ago. How did they manage to maintain such an extensive network for so long, at least until the year 3000 BCE? There are several reasons for this and it's important to be aware that there were many positive elements at work simultaneously and in synchrony. Let's have a look at some central factors.

Trade requires peaceful circumstances, which prevailed in Old European society. There is no archaeological or linguistic evidence that factors threatening peace, such as social hierarchies and power games amongst people, existed at the time. There was no place for despots or tyrants, because there was no state structure. Peaceful community life was in everyone's best interest. 

Successful trade requires mutual trust. The Old Europeans had a special ability to create trust through a ritualistic gift-giving system. Gift giving wasn't just a random convention, but a solid mainstay of social life. Gifts were not just commodities but symbolic objects. For example, a broken piece of a figurine used in a ritual, usually shaped like a woman, could be given as a gift. The Old Europeans believed that the figurines became spiritually charged through ritual. Thus the gifted fragment was not just any object but a valuable source of spiritual power. Gift giving was a gesture of good will: it helped to create and consolidate relationships and show appreciation for others. According to one hypothesis, a gift had a concrete meaning in trade. By giving a gift, a trader wanted to strengthen the agreement between trading partners, implying the same thing as the modern expression "let's shake on it".

In Old Europe, trade also included the aspect of gift exchange. A gift was expected in return for the offered goods. This developed into the exchange of goods, which also became established in Old European trade. However, compared to the modern West, the Old European worldview was governed by an entirely different idea about ownership and property. The idea of private property was strange to them; in practice, it didn't exist. The possible gains made by the exchange of goods were distributed so that all could benefit from them. In other words, they were used for the common good. Skilled traders had a good chance at success. They would certainly gain the respect of their community, since everyone could benefit from their success, and competition was not necessary. This system of gift exchange helped maintain a peaceful society.            

Who invented this versatile, comprehensive and far-sighted model for an economy of gift giving and care? Most probably it is derived from women's ways of relating to the surrounding world and to children. Women project values and practices into trade that reflect care taking. Equality between men and women prevailed in Old European society, and women had a special position in certain fields such as trade. Women organized river trading, and we know of such practices in later periods that were presumably very similar. Even today, there is a functioning gift economy in South-East Asia. Women are responsible for trading on the Mekong river, just as they were in Old Europe. There are also many matrilineal indigenous communities in which women have a central position and have a gift economy to this day (e.g. the Iroquois).

Mother holding a baby in her arms; bird-headed figurine from Old European region. The Vinča culture, circa 4500 BCE.

Another line of argument presents a view on women's central positions in the development of gift-giving practices. It is a modern theory about the distinctive features of matrilineal cultures that equates a gift's basic underpinning to a mother's relationship with her child. Mother-child communication functions like a gift which enables language learning. According to this theory, a key practice in a gift economy is formed early on by various forms of communication between a mother and her child. This relationship is not an exchange as it is understood in the modern sense. It is motivated by the survival of a dependent child, instead of by the exchange of material goods between two (seemingly) equal partners. Although in theory someone else besides a biological mother might be in her position, in practice care work has commonly been counted among a woman's tasks and experiences.

Harald Haarmann and Kaarina Kailo

Read this blog in Finnish here.

Read more about maternal gift economy in this blog.