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Can you imagine paying in cocoa beans to buy a bag of rice? Well, ancient Mayans did. Let’s look at some of the weirdest things that were once used as currency.
Many civilisations used salt as a currency, including the Romans, who paid their soldiers in salt. In Ethiopia, salt blocks (“amole”) were used as currency for centuries.
Tea leaves compressed into bricks were used as currency in China, Mongolia, Siberia, Tibet, Turkmenistan and Russia. In China, during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), it was used to pay taxes.
Some societies in the Solomon Islands used bat, dolphin and flying-fox teeth as currency. In some parts of Fiji and Papua New Guinea, the use of mammal teeth as a store of value was quite common.
Cowrie shells were used as money in China 3,000 years ago. Shells were also used as currency in Bengal and Orissa, from ancient times to around 1830.
During medieval times, red squirrel pelts were used as currency in Finland and Russia. The Finnish word for money, “raha,” originally translated to squirrel fur.
Image: wikipedia.org/Public domain
Wampum, which are shell beads woven together into strings or belts, were used as money between Native Americans and Caucasians in the early 17th century due to a shortage of European currency.
In ancient Mesopotamia, a barley-based beer was used as a form of payment for labour. Records show that unskilled labourers received 1-2 litres of beer per day as part of their wages.
In Italy, wheels of Parmesan cheese were used as a form of money as early as the year 1200. Some banks in the country still use it as collateral against farmer loans.
While the Aztec and Mayan civilisations used the barter system, cocoa beans, considered sacred, were often used as a standard currency for trade.
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