Bronze Age: how the market began

Knowing the weight of a commodity provides a way to value goods in the marketplace. But did a self-regulating market even exist in the Bronze Age? And what can weight systems tell us? Researchers investigated the dissemination of weight systems throughout Western Eurasia. Their simulation indicates that the interaction of merchants, even without intervention from institutions, is likely to explain the spread of Bronze Age technology to weigh goods.

from Latest Science News -- ScienceDaily https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/06/210629191721.htm