Money used by Sumerians in Mesopotamia, says expert

ADANA - Anadolu Agency

At a conference, Professor Hayat Erkanal speaks about the early civilizations in the Mesopotamia basin.

As part of the 15th anniversary of Çukurova University’s (ÇÜ) Faculty of Science and Letters Department of Archaeology, a conference titled “The Birth of Mesopotamia Civilization” was held over the weekend. At the event, the head of excavations at Limantepe, Professor Hayat Erkanal, provided information about the Sumerian civilization and its contribution to the early development of money.

Speaking about the early civilizations in the Mesopotamia basin and their transition to urban culture, Erkanal highlighted economic development in the region 5,000 years ago and said the monetary unit was discovered at that time by Sumerians, leading to the Lydians producing coins later on.

“Economic development 5,000 years ago led to the construction of big structures like a ‘winter palace’ as a result of the trade of production surplus, and money was used for the first time. The first materials used in producing money were rings made of gold, silver and other metals. These were developed and turned into bullions made of the same materials. This was the first monetary unit discovered by Sumerians, and the Lydians also went on to print money and produce coins,” he said. 

Economic life

Erkanal also spoke about economic life in Mesopotamian urban centers and the birth of writing techniques. “Production surpluses in the cities were originally collected in temples. But a new system was developed.

In this system, production was documented using shape writing. Sometime later these more than 2,000 shapes caused confusion and people started writing on kilns. This was the birth of the writing,” he said.