&gt; So, the gold thing doesn&#x27;t match humanity&#x27;s tradition until very recently.<p>Ish. There&#x27;s no unified &quot;human tradition&quot; anyway. Mediterranean societies have used gold- and other metal-based tallies for thousands of years, until they eventually settled on (gold, silver) coins as a standard. Greek&#x2F;Roman conquests and trade then spread the idea.