Beer Bucks

Although the precise beginnings of beer are uncertain, Mesopotamian recipes that have survived show early, avant-garde brewing techniques. Another evidence indicating the great value attached to the starchy beverage that could also serve as a meal comes from Sumerian documents that date back more than 5,000 years and show that beer was used as cash to pay labor.

In London's British Museum, one of these vintage pay stubs is currently on display. The cuneiform-written clay tablet was found in Uruk, which is in modern-day Iraq. It shows a human head eating the "ration" and has scratches indicating how much beer was paid. A similar economic technique would eventually be adopted by the Egyptians, which explains how all of those massive pyramids were constructed.