ABSTRACT
Regions vary in rainfall, soil, topography, length of growing season, possibilities for irrigation, access to natural fertilizers, and in a variety of other ways. Humans also developed an important set of technologies only indirectly related to agriculture during the first millennia of settled agriculture: pottery, bricks, glass, textiles, and metals. Textiles do not preserve as well as pottery, and so author have far fewer specimens of early textiles. The technologies discussed in this chapter generated new possibilities for trade: Both the raw materials and finished products for pottery, textiles, and metals were carried long distances. Trade could occur with other. An extensive trade in raw materials, finished goods, or services may have significant economic impacts, and further indirect effects on economic specialization and social stratification.
