Conflict reigns over the history and origins of money

Thousands of years ago, money was a means of debt payment, archaeologists and anthropologists say

Maya mural

MONEY MYSTERIES  Painted murals found in a small pyramid at the Classic Maya site of Calakmul depict scenes of people exchanging and consuming goods in what may have been a marketplace. Stylistic details indicate that the images date to nearly 1,400 years ago.

R. Carrasco Vargas, V.A. Vázquez López and S. Martin/PNAS 2009

Wherever you go, money talks.