Since ancient times, humans have utilized all sorts of items to represent value, from large stones to cakes of salt, squirrel pelts and whale teeth. And as a sort of language that we all speak, money and our continual need for it exert a powerful behavioral influence upon all of us, from the humblest shop clerk to Wall Street financiers. The greed for riches has enticed nations to launch bloody wars of conquest, and driven some humans to exploit or cheat others. Unauthorized use is prohibited.Įven as money has enabled humans to survive and thrive, it’s also harmed them. Those physical tokens, in turn, gradually are being superseded by electronic ones, ranging from credit card transactions to new forms of digital currency designed for transferring and amassing wealth on the Internet. The ancient world’s stones and shells gave way to coins, and eventually to paper currency and checks drawn upon bank accounts. Over the centuries, money continued to evolve in form and function. It also helped connect the world, by enabling traders to roam across continents and oceans to buy and sell goods, and investors to amass wealth. It helped to drive the development of civilization, by making it easier not just to buy and sell goods, but to pay workers in an increasing number of specialized trades-craftsmen, artists, merchants, and soldiers, to name a few.
Ancient humans’ invention of money was a revolutionary milestone. Such early accounting tools ultimately evolved into a system of finance and money itself -a symbolic representation of value, which can be transferred from one person to another as a payment for goods or services.Ĭivilization existed before money, but probably wouldn’t have gotten very far without it.
Those humble little ceramic shapes might not seem have much in common with today’s $100 bill, whose high-tech anti-counterfeiting features include a special security thread designed to turn pink when illuminated by ultraviolet light, let alone with credit-card swipes and online transactions that for many Americans are rapidly taking the place of cash.īut the roots of those modern modes of payment may lie in the Sumerians’ tokens. One piece might signify a bushel of grain, while another with a different shape might represent a farm animal or a jar of olive oil. " Origins: The Journey of Humankind" airs tonight at 9/8c on National Geographic channel.Ībout 9,500 years ago in the Mesopotamian region of Sumer, ancient accountants kept track of farmers’ crops and livestock by stacking small pieces of baked clay, almost like the tokens used in board games today.
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