Sharing and inclusion : Generosity, trust and response to vulnerability in the distant past

This chapter argues that in order to fully understand the significance of sharing in the far distant past we need to make the connection between sharing that we see as an intimate social relationship in modern hunter-gatherers and sharing as seen in archaeological evidence as an economic system with long term ‘pay offs’. Linking these two aspects of sharing allows us to appreciate that the long term economic payoffs of sharing are only possible through complex emotional relationships of generosity, trust and response to vulnerability, mediated through social reputation.