Converting currencies in the Old World

Raw materials recovered from archaeological excavations in the Indus Valley, the Persian Gulf, Mesopotamia, Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean reflect the existence of long-distance trading during the Bronze Age, which united these regions into networks of commercial exchange. As each region relied...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2001-05, Vol.411 (6836), p.437-437
Main Authors: Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C, Mederos, Alfredo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
brief-communication
Bronze Age
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Economics
Exact sciences and technology
Gold
Humanities and Social Sciences
Marine and continental quaternary
multidisciplinary
Museums
Raw materials
Science
Surficial geology
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Summary:Raw materials recovered from archaeological excavations in the Indus Valley, the Persian Gulf, Mesopotamia, Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean reflect the existence of long-distance trading during the Bronze Age, which united these regions into networks of commercial exchange. As each region relied on a different set of weights for trading, a straightforward conversion system must have been in operation. Here we describe a simple and universal conversion system that could have provided an economic key to the trade networks of the Old World between 2500 and 1000 bc.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/35078143