When people settled in groups or communities, they sometimes produced more goods than they needed for themselves. So they began to trade their extra goods for other things made by people nearby. Gradually, towns grew in size and became busy trading centres.
.
• People living in settled farming communities had more time to develop skills such as pottery, weaving and tool-making.
• Eventually, some people became craftworkers, specializing in making certain goods to sell.
.
• Before money was invented people swapped goods. People with spare wheat, for example, might swap it for pottery.