Tag: Organic Economy

Collections: Hoplite Wars: Part IVa, The Status of Hoplites

This is the last part of our four-part series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, Intermission, IVa, IVb) on the debates surrounding ancient Greek hoplites and the phalanx formation in which they fought. We've spent the last two entries in this series looking at warfare quite narrowly through the lens of tactics: hoplite spacing, depth, fighting style, … Continue reading Collections: Hoplite Wars: Part IVa, The Status of Hoplites →

Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part V: Life In Cycles

This is the fifth and final part of our series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb, IVc, IVd,IVe, V) looking at the structures of life for pre-modern peasant farmers and showing how historical modeling can help us explore the experiences of people who rarely leave much evidence of their day-to-day personal lives. I've been stressing … Continue reading Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part V: Life In Cycles →

Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part IVe: The No-Rest Of It

This is the fifth dish of the fourth course of our series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb, IVc, IVd,IVe, V) looking at the lives of pre-modern peasant farmers, who made up a majority of all of the humans who have ever lived. We are trying to grapple here with what has thus been the … Continue reading Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part IVe: The No-Rest Of It →

Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part IVd: Spinning Plates

This is the fourth thread of the fourth part of our series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb, IVc, IVd,IVe, V) looking at the lives of pre-modern peasant farmers, who make up a majority of all of the humans who have ever lived. We're thus probing here was has been, in effect, the modal human … Continue reading Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part IVd: Spinning Plates →

Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part IVc: Rent and Extraction

This is the third piece of the fourth part of our series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb, IVc, IVd,IVe, V) looking at the lives of pre-modern peasant farmers – a majority of all of the humans who have ever lived. Last time, we started looking at the subsistence of peasant agriculture by considering the … Continue reading Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part IVc: Rent and Extraction →

Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part IVb: Working Days

This is the continuation - the first of several - of the fourth part of our series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb, IVc, IVd,IVe, V) looking at the lives of pre-modern peasant farmers - a majority of all of the humans who have ever lived. Last time we discussed the survival requirements (in food … Continue reading Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part IVb: Working Days →

Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part IVa: Subsistence and a Little More

This is the start of the fourth part of our series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb, IVc, IVd,IVe, V) discussing the structures of life for pre-modern peasants, who made up the majority of all humans who have ever lived. In the last few sections, we've looked broadly at how mortality, marriage and childbearing patterns … Continue reading Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part IVa: Subsistence and a Little More →

Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part II: Starting at the End

This is the second part of our series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb, IVc, IVd,IVe, V) discussing the basic contours of life - birth, marriage, labor, subsistence, death - of pre-modern peasants and their families. As we've discussed, pre-modern peasant farmers make up the vast majority of human beings in in the past. Last … Continue reading Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part II: Starting at the End →

Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part I: Households

This is the first post in a series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb, IVc, IVd,IVe, V) discussing the basic contours of life - birth, marriage, labor, subsistence, death - of pre-modern peasants and their families. Prior to the industrial revolution, peasant farmers of varying types made up the overwhelming majority of people in settled … Continue reading Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part I: Households →