From Barter and Trade to Silver and Gold

Trade probably goes back to the earliest human groups. Wandering nomads encountered other nomads as well as sedentary groups of humans in their travels. When these encounters did not result in violence, they often involved some sort of exchange. The basis of the exchange may have been as simple as food items or it may have included weapons and even people, when women were exchanged as marriage partners, for instance.

This alternate to violence is really the beginning of civilization.Small groups of people, during the long ages before the rise of tribal networks and urban lifestyles lived on the very edge of extinction. Any other group of men was an immediate threat to subsistence.Only by wiping them out could a band be certain of its own food supply.

It is also natural, though, to seek to avoid violence. The adrenalin rush of violence causes the heart to race and limbs to tremble, even after an outright victory. And victories still resulted in deaths or injuries in one's own group. When possible, men encountering strangers tried to find ways to turn these meetings into episodes which everyone could survive.

One way to do this was to establish a relationship with the strangers. If group leaders could ascertain that the other group was somehow related by descent from an earlier ancestor or from women taken in raids, then their could be excuse to avoid violence. Trade was another reason to avoid violence. Alien groups that had useful resources naturally formed part of one's survival network and had to be preserved.

Such bartering continued right up until urban environments became more common among societies. In fact, there are places in which bartering continues to function as a useful method of exchange. However, men soon desired a way to transport wealth in smaller bundles.

Silver and gold were probably discovered even before true civilization can be said to have existed.These metals appeared in riverbeds and would have been highly visible due to their luster. Once found, it would have been easy to discover their malleability. This quality made it possible for even the most primitive men to fashion beautiful items from these precious metals.

Silver and gold were natural substitutes for wealth based in cattle or land. Though heavy, they were much more portable than large quantities of actual goods. Eventually, nations began to mint coins that were recognized as the official currency of whichever realm struck them. The use of silver and gold as money continued, in some sense, right up until the 20th century. Though bank notes had, for most occasions, replaced actual quantities of silver and gold, these precious metals still backed the validity of the currency.