The History of the Sumerian Economy

The mesopotamian system is the best documented, more so than that of paronic egypt. Temple bureaucrats used the system to calculate debts, rents, fees, loans in silver. The basic monetary unit was the silver shekel. One shekel's weight in silver was established as the equivalent of one gur, or bushel of barley. A shekel was subdivided into 60 minas, corresponding to one portion of barley.