by Richard Martin
All value is entirely subjective. It resides in the minds of people. Money is the most widely accepted medium of exchange. People acquire it mainly for purposes of trade and as a store of value. Gold became the money because it was the most marketable good and would therefore be the most readily exchangeable.
Before gold, there were other forms of money, all of them commodities with variable monetary qualities. Archeologists have excavated sites full of seashells and beads on strings. Some of these go back almost 100,000 BP. Rarity, beauty, skill, durability, and proof of work were required to make a good acceptable as money.
I believe that grave goods were meant to be used in the spirit world as money and a sign of wealth and status in the next life.
© Richard Martin