Agriculture was undoubtedly the main occupation of most of the inhabitants of the first sedentary villages. It was the basis of their food production. In fact, it was so efficient that it produced more food than was needed. The people of the Neolithic period therefore had a surplus of food, an agricultural surplus. Thanks to this surplus, some people no longer had to devote all their time to producing food. These people therefore had other occupations in the village. They become artisans. They make things like tools and clothes.
Mesopotamian tools
Representation of Mesopotamian clothing
The objects made by the artisans are varied. They can be used for farming, cooking, hunting, decoration and so on. Some artisans specialise in a specific field in order to develop their expertise. For example, potters made pots and other containers, blacksmiths made tools and weapons from metal, basket weavers made baskets from plant fibres and weavers made carpets and clothing. The advent of pottery was a particularly important event for the early villages. Pots and other containers were useful for cooking food and storing agricultural surpluses.
Neolithic cooking pot
Neolithic stone tools
Vanier building a basket
Weaver working with textiles
The objects made by the artisans were used by the inhabitants of the village or exchanged for other objects from another village. In order to meet all the needs of the inhabitants, a trade networks was created between the different villages of the Neolithic period. To facilitate these exchanges, a new profession emerged, that of trader. Traders acted as intermediaries between those who traded goods. For example, he might exchange baskets made by the basket weaver for foodstuffs from another village. This type of exchange is called barter.
Work representing barter
