Introduction

History generally uses written and oral sources as the primary tools; however, artifacts have proved to be more useful than the two in the context of ancient civilization. This research will be based on the three sources in an attempt to reveal the actual forces behind the political-economic systems in early history, specific to Paleolithic, Early Agricultural states, natives of the city-states, and the Universal Empires. Paleolithic is a term for Stone Age period; a time in the history of humans characterized by hunting, foraging, and fishing as the sources of livelihood. With the quick expansion of the human population lead to the constraints of the natural resources, it was inevitable for humans to advent into agriculture and later the rise of empires and dynasties. The gradual emergence of human civilization was as a result of universal forces related to culture, social compositions of the communities, and trade relationships. Therefore, this paper covers the three variables about the political-economic systems over time to reveal the standard features and differences in the political economic systems in the communities about change in time.

To begin with, Paleolithic period dates back to between 150,000 and 12,000 years ago as estimated by the anthropologists characterized by Kinship production system; however, it was until 11,000 years ago when the hunting and gathering systems began to transform in the process of adaptation to new environments through migration (Shostak, 8-10). This saw man’s quest to develop tools and methods that could equip them in the process of making the best of their respective environmental constraints. Most studies of early man often focus on the on biological evolution and the natural selection. In both accounts of human existence, sociocultural evolution best explains the ways in which the early human societies created their political economic systems. According to Sahlin (pg. 186), Paleolithic humans never depended solely in the cave life, in which they were only to be concerned on conquering the next meal, but according to the archaeological evidence, the community had systems of religious beliefs characterized by religious beliefs and rituals such as burying the dead. Such religion dates back to the creation account at the time when morals were the significant laws (Genesis 3:1-2). The verses capture the instructions given by God as a reference to guide man since breaking them has consequences; this proves that beliefs were the dominant driving force behind culture and therefore the political economic systems. Culture is what enabled the communities to survive and flourish in the unique but rather dynamic ways.

The late Paleolithic society, just before the introduction of agriculture, was charac