Th e prevalence of Roman coins throughout the empire
suggests that there was a strong degree of popular acceptance
for their use. Although it can be assumed that some form of
barter also existed within the economy, the overwhelming
amount of evidence—from coins and hoards, price lists, and
the frequent mention of economic interchange in Roman lit-
erature—illustrates the widespread use of money and coins.
THE AMERICAS
BY PENNY MORRILL
In Mesoamerica from the 10th century b.c.e. and up to about
200 c.e., the Olmec on the Gulf Coast, the early Maya, people
in the Oaxaca region, and the peoples of Tlatilco, Teopantec-
uanitlan, and Chalcatzingo in central Mexico lived in villages
surrounding ceremonial centers. Village life was dedicated to
subsistence farming. Th ere was always a need for utilitarian
stone tools, ceramics, and clothing as well as ritual objects.
Th e development of the ceremonial centers and an elite class
requiring luxury and ritual goods created a demand for a
greater variety of products; thus, a growth in specialty pro-
duction and regional exchange networks developed. Th ese
same changes in the social hierarchy and in production spe-
cialization were taking place among the Chavín at Chavín de
Huántar in central Peru.
Archaeological research has verifi ed that jade and obsid-
ian in Mesoamerica acquired a high value, as did gold and
textiles in Peru. However, there is no archaeological evidence
for a specifi c value given an object, whether for use by villag-
ers or for the elite shaman-lords. It is not possible to ascertain
what was bartered or exchanged for gold or jade. For these
early cultures in the Americas and others in North America
there is no archaeological proof to date for the use of currency
in exchange for goods.
See also agriculture; art; ceramics and pottery; cities;
clothing and footwear; economy; empires and dynas-
ties; employment and labor; government organization;
literature; metallurgy; migration and population
movements; mining, quarrying, and salt making; num-
bers and counting; religion and cosmology; resistance
and dissent; sacred sites; towns and villages; trade
and exchange; weights and measures; writing.
FURTHER READING
Edward Bleiberg, “Th e Economy of Ancient Egypt.” In Civilizations
of the Ancient Near East, ed. Jack M. Sasson (New York: Scrib-
ner, 1995).
Edward Bleiberg, “Prices and Payments.” In Th e Oxford Encyclo-
pedia of Ancient Egypt, ed. Donald B. Redford (Oxford, U.K.:
Oxford University Press, 2001).
P. J. C a s e , Understanding Ancient Coins: An Introduction for Ar-
chaeologists and Historians (London: B. T. Batsford, 1986).
Glyn Davies, A History of Money, from Ancient Times to the Present
Day (Cardiff : University of Wales Press, 1994).
Toyin Falola and Akanmu Adebayo, Culture, Politics and Money
among the Yoruba (New Brunswick, N.J., and London: Trans-
action, 2000).
Kenneth W. Harl, Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 b.c. to a.d.
700 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996).
Phillip Hill, Th e Monuments of Ancient Rome as Coin Types (Lon-
don: Seaby, 1989).
A. G. Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa (London: Long-
man, 1973).
Christopher Howgego, Ancient History from Coins (London: Rout-
ledge, 1995).
Colin M. Kraay, Archaic and Classical Greek Coins (Berkeley: Uni-
versity of California Press, 1976).
Paul F. O’Rourke, “Coinage.” In Th e Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient
Egypt, ed. Donald B. Redford (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University
Press, 2001).
David L. Vagi, Coinage and History of the Roman Empire, c. 82 b.c.–
a.d. 480 (Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000).
David Warburton, State and Economy in Ancient Egypt: Fiscal Vo-
cabulary of the New Kingdom (Göttingen, Germany: Vanden-
hoeck and Ruprecht, 1997).▶ music and musical instruments
introduction
Music is produced by making something vibrate. A singer
makes the vocal cords vibrate, but the principle is the same
for instrumental music. Sometimes music is created by mak-
ing a membrane vibrate, such as the animal skin of a drum,
or by making a string or a column of air vibrate. All such
music was made in the ancient world. Th e ancients, though,
left behind no written scores, so historians of music can only
speculate about how ancient music sounded.
Th e desire to make music runs deep through human his-
tory and into the human psyche. Th e most ancient hunter-
gatherers no doubt learned that they could make music with
their voices. Th e earliest musical instruments were probably
drums and rattles used in religious observances, celebrations,
and perhaps as a form of communication. In time, percussion
instruments evolved into hand bells to produce music in an-
cient churches and temples. Sometimes glass crystals served
the same purpose.
Among ancient stringed instruments were various forms
of lyres, harps, and zithers. Paintings depicting harps, for ex-
ample, are found on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs, and
an early form of the guitar was used in such places as ancient
Persia and India. Generally, these instruments were played by
plucking, either with the fi ngers or with a pick.
Ancient wind instruments date back to the dawn of his-
tory and include fl utes of bone found in ancient Europe and
horns of metal—yet another legacy of the later development
of mining and metallurgy. Th ese early horns are the ances-
tors of modern-day trumpets, trombones, and the like. In
Asia bamboo was perfectly suited for making fl utes, for bam-
boo is already hollow; with the addition of a row of holes,762 money and coinage: The Americas