economic systems in copan compared to other ancient cultures :: essays research papers

                    Economic Systems      end-to-end history there has been a common theme of progression towards more than complex societies. The advent of agriculture enab guide population size of its to increase, and allowed permanent settlements to arise. As bulky cultivation of farmland progressed, a surplus of food was created that enabled some mint at bottom a society to be non-food producers. These people who no bimestrial were required to farm in order to survive were able to amaze marketable goods that they could exchange for food. This transition towards interdependence, (craftsmen depending on exchanging their goods for food), brought with it an opportunity for the government in spite of appearance each society to exact some tribute for monitoring the economy, and do sure that exchanges went smoothly. This led to societies with a well-defined hierarchy and slowly led to the abolition of the egalitarian societies where everyone engages in the same means of production. Within these aforementioned(prenominal) egalitarian societies there is some occupational specialization, but it is based on the skill of the craftsmen, and no one is a full time specialist. The differences in the economies of Copan, Teotihuacan, and ancient Rome, can illustrate why and how economies increase in complexity, and what criteria be necessary for large-scale frugal specialization. More specifically, what factors contain Copan and Teotihuacan, preventing them from attaining the population size, and economic complexity of ancient Rome.Teotihuacan was a huge metropolis in what is like a shot southern Mexico. It became a large city before 100CE and reached the height of its size from about 600-650CE. At its height it was home to roughly 125,000 inhabitants. There is a permanent springs nearby the ancient city, and satellite photos have indicated the presence of a pos sible irrigation strategy with canals used to water farm sites. Although the age of the irrigation canals has further to be established it seems to be highly probable that this canal system was created concurrently with the development of the city. This conclusion is also supported by a lack of rural population, which would have been necessary to provide food for much(prenominal) a large population if there wasnt agriculture within the city. Because the food was not brought in from a great distance, the travel uptake to get the food to the population would have been low. This allowed there to be a dense population concentration within the urban area. The expense of pitiable goods in the new world seems to have been a factor that limited the size of cities.