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And, whether money takes the form of silver coins, seashells, bars of gold or bank notes, |
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that's been true from ancient times right down to the present day. |
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Even lumps of clay can work better than silver coins, if people have enough confidence in them. |
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In Ancient Mesopotamia, nearly 4,000 years ago, |
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people used clay tablets like these ones to commit themselves to particular financial transactions. |
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For example, this one, found a little southwest of Baghdad, |
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specifies that a debtor will repay a lender 330 measures of grain on the harvest day. |
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But this one's even more fascinating, |
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because what it says is that a debt of four measures of barley should be repaid to the bearer of the clay tablet. |
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And it's that idea of repayment to the bearer that really fascinates me. |
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