Traces Left by Women in Production, Management and Trade from the Neolithic Age to the End of the Bronze Age
Fatma Şeker, Sevgi ŞekerDevelopments such as social order, legal systems, and economics in every field are built upon the experiences and order previous societies have created. The presence of women in the workforce, management, and commercial organizations increases daily and contributes to the world and national economies. The Neolithic Age is when production began, and the Chalcolithic Age had long-distance trade routes. The Bronze Age is when the first international systematic trade began being carried out and also includes developments regarding the creation and archiving of documents used in administration and trade, laying the foundations for the records systems that have survived to this day. This study will follow the traces left by women in the social and economic system and examine their presence in line with the information found concerning tokens, bullas, seals, seal impressions, and cuneiform tablets that form the accounting, calculation, and recorded documents encountered in the administration and commercial organizations of past civilizations.
Neolitik Çağdan Tunç Çağları Sonuna Kadar Üretimde, Yönetimde ve Ticarette Kadının Bıraktığı İzler
Fatma Şeker, Sevgi ŞekerGünümüzde toplumsal düzen, hukuk sistemi, ekonomi vb. her alanda yaşanan gelişmeler önceki toplumların oluşturdukları düzen üzerine inşa edilmektedir. Bu bağlamda kadının iş gücü, yönetim ve ticari organizasyonlar içerisindeki varlığı da gün geçtikçe artmakta, dünya ve ülke ekonomilerine de katkı sağlamaktadır. Üretimin başladığı Neolitik Çağ, uzak mesafeli ticaret rotalarının ortaya çıktığı Kalkolitik Çağ, ilk uluslararası sistemli ticaretin yapılmaya başlandığı Tunç Çağları; aynı zamanda yönetimde ve ticarette kullanılan belgelerin oluştuğu, arşivlendiği ve bugünlere kadar ulaşmasını sağlayan kayıt sisteminin de temellerinin atıldığı gelişimi içinde barındırmaktadır.
Bu çalışmada geçmiş uygarlıkların yönetimi ve ticari organizasyonlarında karşımıza çıkan muhasebe/hesaplama ve kayıt vesikaları; tokenler, bullalar, mühür ve mühür baskıları veçivi yazılı tabletler üzerindeki bilgiler doğrultusunda kadının varlığı ve bıraktığı izler takip edilerek toplumsal ve ekonomik sisteme katkısı incelenecektir. Toplumsal sistem ve ekonomi sistemi içerisinde bıraktığı izler takip edilecek ve bu yapı içerisindeki durumu veya yeri incelenecektir.
In the Upper Palaeolithic (ca. 40,000-12,000 BC), the ancestors of today’s modern humans knew how to exploit natural conditions and how to make a living by making tools using the knowledge gained from previous generations. In this way, the people of the period took the first steps toward science by passing on to the next generation information about which animal species were suitable for eating, which plants to collect, and the appropriate time and seasons for accessing food sources. The people of the period succeeded in conveying information to the present day with the depictions they made on cave walls regarding their efforts to achieve success in hunting, increasing the number of hunted animals, and finding food.
Since prehistoric times, economy and trade have played an active role in the communication between cultures and the emergence of civilizations. According to the science of archaeology, in order for a find to be considered evidence of trade, it must be found outside its commonly known region and must have been produced in the same style as found in its homeland. During the Neolithic Period, an increase occurred not only in the mobility of raw materials but also in the surplus of products obtained through agricultural and animal husbandry activities. With the increased intensity in production and trade activities, the communities of the period are thought to have developed an accounting and records system they could easily understand among themselves. The token system, which the people of the period produced from clay in different geometric shapes of 1-3 cm in size where each geometric shape represents a different product and its quantity, began to be used in agricultural village settlements in Mesopotamia starting in 8,000 BC. Afterwards, tokens continued to be used for about 5,000 years as the recording tools of accounting activities that had spread throughout the Near East.
In the Neolithic period, the function of counting and calculating surplus product was initially modest, covering only a few households. Therefore, the tokens were assumed to have been discarded once their function had finished, without any need for archiving.
Starting in the middle of the Chalcolithic Age (5,500/5,000-3,000 BCE) in the mid-5th millennium BCE, tokens began being found alongside seals and seal impressions in apparent storage rooms within permanent public buildings. During this period, seals served as status symbols and belonged only to leaders. Toward the end of the period, however, the emergence of new cities as a result of population growth and the loss of face-to-face contact in interregional communication and trade saw public officials begin using seals on behalf of leaders.
The end of the Chalcolithic Age in Mesopotamia is defined as the Uruk Period, and the Uruk administration is known to have established colonies in Southeastern Anatolia and Upper Euphrates through the mechanisms of being able to access, produce, and control various raw material resources, such as metals. Evidence of these relationships have also been traced on the bullas, seals, and seal impressions that were the commercial documents of the period.
In the Early Bronze Age (3,000-2,000 BC), specialization in various fields of production such as mining and weaving is known to have emerged in Anatolia. In addition, archaeological evidence clearly shows that cultural relations had developed beyond Anatolia with the Balkans, the Aegean islands, the Caucasus, Syria, and Mesopotamia and that imported, and locally imitated products were traded.
Trade relations played a major role in Anatolia’s archaeological record and its transition to recorded history. This period has been dated between 2000-1750 BC in Anatolian archaeology and is analyzed as the period of the Assyrian Trade Colonies, during which Assyrian merchants laid the foundation of an organized international trade network between Anatolia and Mesopotamia, accompanied by donkey caravans using land routes from Mesopotamia.
This study follows the traces left by women, who had taken an active role in the changing social structure since the Neolithic Age, in production, administration, and trade regarding archaeological finds such as tokens, seals, bullae, and tablets. The geography that forms the source of the study will begin with Mesopotamia, which witnessed the birth of civilizations in prehistoric times, and will be examined in relation to Anatolian lands. The study’s chronological date range will cover the Neolithic Age (10,000- 5,500/5,000 BC) when mankind began production with simple village settlements, the Chalcolithic Age (5,500/5,000- 3.000 BC) when city-states began being established, and the Bronze Age (3,000- 1200 BC) which witnessed the first known empires and international trade networks of the past. The study will present findings revealed by the science of archaeology through examples by taking into account the systematic archaeological excavation reports and artifacts that have been announced to the scientific world through relevant publications and philological studies.
