Clever & greedy

Provides a concise overview of brain evolution in early hominids and what appears to be barter behavior in chimps. Traces the rudiments of the human wealth orientation as it developed at Wadi Faynan, a prehistoric agrarian settlement, at the ancient town of Catalhoyuk, and at Uruk, a major Sumerian trading city. Considers the transformative effect of farming, the commercial impact of obsidian, and the invention of proto-cuneiform as an accounting tool.