Raw material managing and exploitation in the past

Abstract

Raw materials include food and water for humans and animals, as well as materials for making tools, shelter, clothes, other daily objects such as vessels, storage containers, etc., and also for objects of art, ritual and cult. Their origin and method of acquiring are often interlinked and are connected into a complex network of mutual relation. For example, food remains, such as animal bones, skin, tendons, are used for artefact production, non-edible parts of plants may serve for other purposes, such as stems for roofs or for covering the floor, fresh running water is important for human and animal consumption but also for numerous production processes, gathering in the woodlands may encompass diverse resources, such as wood for basketry, plant and animal food, and so on. The system and the organization of acquiring and exploiting of different raw materials represent the most important part of every economy and economical system. The questions such as availability of some of the raw materials, the degree of their exploitation versus their availability, the mode of exploitation as well as the method of their extracting, connected with the technological choices, are particularly important for studying not only economic, but also other social aspects.