The structural weakness of States in the High Middle Ages explains the importance of social ties. This fact also justifies the central place of the notion of reciprocity, the real engine of social relations.

For almost a century, archaeologists and historians have long debated the role of trade in the economies of ancient and medieval societies. Primitivist and modernist views have been at odds over the existence and role of the economy and the market in Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

The connection between settlement patterns, settlement networks and production systems are fundamental to ancient societies.