5,000-Year Old Paystub Shows Workers Paid in Beer

It's time to punch the timeclock and head out because it's beer o'clock. Here's a record of the earliest known such time. It's a cuniform tablet that is 5,000 years old.

Archaeologists found it at Uruk (you know, from Star Trek) in modern-day Iraq. It illustrates laborers being paid for their services in the best form of currency: beer. Alison George describes at New Scientist:

On one tablet excavated from the area we can see a human head eating from a bowl, meaning “ration”, and a conical vessel, meaning “beer”. Scattered around are scratches recording the amount of beer for a particular worker. It’s the world’s oldest known payslip, implying that the concept of worker and employer was familiar five millennia ago.

-via Geekologie


Login to comment.
Click here to access all of this post's 0 comments




Email This Post to a Friend
"5,000-Year Old Paystub Shows Workers Paid in Beer"

Separate multiple emails with a comma. Limit 5.

 

Success! Your email has been sent!

close window
X

This website uses cookies.

This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By using this website you consent to all cookies in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

I agree
 
Learn More