In the stone age, people lived in small, rigidly structured communities subsisting on hunting, fishing and gathering. Without surpluses, there was no exchange of produce.
It was only when hunters and gatherers turned into herdsmen and agriculturalists that early forms of commerce began to develop.
Flints and other hard stones suitable for weapons or tools were exchanged for other commodities. Minerals that could be fashioned into utensils or jewellery were highly prized and often found their way to far-off destinations.
When the age of metals arrived, people travelled long distances to barter for these substances, because they could be made into tools and weapons far superior to any produced before. Regular trade routes for copper, tin and bronze grew up.
Salt, an essential commodity, was carried over the numerous salt roads of antiquity from the Baltic to Italy, from the Sahara to Egypt, from the Himalayas to the heart of India and exchanged for regional products.
The basis of all early commerce was barter, in other words the direct exchange of one product for another, with the relative values a matter for negotiation. In the advanced civilisations of Egypt and ancient China, with their highly developed administrative and tax systems, primary products were assigned standard values and used as a forerunner to money. Rice, tea, almonds, pepper and grain were all used in this way.
Fishermen, hunters and herdsmen often standardised the exchange rates for animal products. A decree issued in 1420 laid down that a tub of butter was worth 120 dried fish, whilst 4 dried fish were equivalent to a pair of leather shoes. Hunters used animal skins as units of account and exchange, a top-quality beaver fur serving as reference value for other furs and commodities.
After herdsmen learnt how to domesticate wild animals, cattle, sheep and camels were used to make payments in kind. In a dark chapter of mankind´s history, human beings themselves served as a means of payment. In the 16th century, the average exchange value of a slave was 8000 pounds of sugar.
Source:
René Sedillot: Muscheln, Münzen und Papier.
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