In The Beginning, There Was The Price

"[W]hen humans first took stylus to wet clay, the first thing that they were compelled to record was . . . prices." (Charles Fishman, in Fast Company.) Those prices and other cultural artifacts were written down on tablets by the ancient Sumerians, who used to live right about where all the troops are. (Small wonder there's hostility toward the place; some say that's where law as we know it got its start.) You can pick up one of these tablets on eBay if you are so inclined, but best to think twice: "Bidding at auction for that tantalizing tablet puts you at risk of trafficking in hot antiquities." [via Salon]