The capstone of the course. You will build a documented timeline of monetary history — barter to programmable digital currencies — and, more importantly, explain in your own words why each transition occurred and what pressures ended each regime.
- 01Synthesize the entire course into a single, defensible artifact.
- 02Distinguish which transitions were technological, which political, and which fiscal.
- 03Author an argument, not a chronology.
How to approach the capstone
Do not begin with the artifact. Begin with the argument. What is the pattern you have come to see across the course? Once you can state the pattern in one sentence, the timeline becomes an act of illustration and defense — a working document rather than a decorative one.
What makes a strong capstone
The weakest capstones are chronologies with dates and pictures. The strongest capstones are arguments — the timeline is the evidence, and the reader finishes convinced that monetary history has a shape. Aim for the second.
Produce a Timeline of Money that spans from the pre-monetary reciprocity economies of prehistory through commodity money, representative money, national fiat, and the emerging digital monies of the present. The artifact must be visual (a working timeline the reader can scroll or navigate) and it must be argued (each transition is annotated with a one-paragraph account of what pressure ended the previous regime and what advantage the new one offered).
Deliverables
- — A visual timeline with at least fifteen dated waypoints from ~10,000 BCE to the present.
- — A written companion, ~1,500 words, arguing the pattern the timeline reveals.
- — A short section — one page — on where the pattern points next, and what would falsify your reading.
- — A bibliography of at least six sources, drawn from the readings across the course.
Rubric
- — Accuracy: dates and facts hold up to sourcing.
- — Structure: the transitions are grouped, not merely listed.
- — Argument: the reader is convinced the pattern is real, not decorative.
- — Institutional voice: it reads like an Anabasis publication, not a term paper.
Oral Defense
- — State, in one minute, the pattern your timeline argues for.
- — Name the transition you found hardest to explain, and how you resolved it.
- — Take a challenge to your reading of the present monetary regime.
- — Nominate the next transition you expect, and the evidence that would change your mind.