The clay tablets that they pulled out of the box were used five thousand years ago in ancient mesopotamia. They were used to keep records of obligations. When people lived in small groups, monitoring ations was easy. But as human societies grew larger, people needed a way to systematically keep track of who owed what to whom.
What’s the point of money? The answer might seem obvious: we need it to get paid for our work and to buy the things we need. But there’s also a deeper way to look at the role of money in our lives. This week in our Money 2.0 series, we revisit a favorite 2020 episode for an anthropologist’s take on the origin story of money. What if the cash and coins we carry are not just tools for transactions, but manifestations of human relationships?
If you like this show, be sure to listen to last week's episode on how we can be better both at spending and at saving money.
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