Snake dies of silicone poisoning after biting the breast of model.

An amazing husband rescues wife story from the Japanese tsunami.

Evidence of burial rites from 350,000 years ago.

About seasteading and law.

About the spreading of anti-Semitism.

Considering the lessons from the kidnapping of the son of a Russian billionaire ( Read more... )

Examining why chimpanzees do not trade items when they do trade services in the wild and will trade tokens in laboratory experiments: lack of ownership norms seems to be central.

Analysing gift exchange (pdf).

Analysing barter (pdf).

There may be reasons to reform health care: international competitiveness is not one of them.

About the rise of ( Read more... )

Came across a review article by Professor Michael E. Smith, The Archaeology of Ancient State Economies [link to pdf download], which I found enlightening.

The references to the origins and history of money I found particularly striking, so have followed up by reading John F. Henry The Social Origins of Money: the Case of Egypt [pdf] and Eric ( Read more... )

This is more in the way of notes to myself, a list that appears to be useful from this comment.

Earle, Timothy (2002) Bronze Age Economics: The Beginnings of Political Economies, Westview Press, Boulder, CO.

Feinman, Gary M. and Joyce Marcus (editors) (1998) Archaic States, School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, NM ( Read more... )