ABSTRACT
What is economics, anyway? In this concluding chapter, we briefly summarize the arguments we have made and take the opportunity to offer a transversal look at some of the core themes and insights we return to throughout the book. We argue that breaking down barriers between prehistory, classics, medieval and modern periods benefits our understanding of human economic change and stress the need to reintegrate trade into economic anthropology. We also highlight archaeology’s scope for contributing to debates about economic growth, metrology and money and suggest that archaeology should re-evaluate our use of ‘stop-think’ words like ‘chiefdom,’ ‘complexity’ or ‘the state,’ which have shut down critical engagement rather than reveal new perspectives. Finally, we stress that the narrative we present is not a theory of everything, but rather, an attempt to re-invigorate archaeology and contribute meaningfully to the economic debates that will shape the future.
