Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The world’s oldest paycheck was cashed in beer
New Scientist ^

Posted on 06/29/2016 7:23:28 PM PDT by ameribbean expat

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.

(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: agriculture; animalhusbandry; dietandcuisine; epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; huntergatherers; oenology; zymurgy
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-33 last
To: catnipman

“The residents of this city are unlikely to have considered their daily chores “work”, says Hodder.”

I call BS. Even doing your own personal chores is work.


21 posted on 06/29/2016 8:59:07 PM PDT by Ancesthntr ("The right to buy weapons the right to be free." A. E. van Vogt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: ameribbean expat

I remember reading here on FR years back that it was common until recent times to give workers beer while they worked. I think shipbuilders were the topic. I also remember people working on houses back in the 1970’s drinking beer while on the job.


22 posted on 06/29/2016 9:01:53 PM PDT by Moonman62 (Make America Great Again!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Moonman62

My brother was a roofer and drank beer while working. In the 70’s I managed a credit bureau and lunch usually included wine or a bloody mary. Of course, back then I could smoke in my office too.

Thinking about it, there have been a lot of changes in the past 40 years.


23 posted on 06/29/2016 9:08:21 PM PDT by Duchess47 ("One day I will leave this world and dream myself to Reality" Crazy Horse)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Duchess47

Scotch, cigarettes and pinup girls were the lifeblood of every firm when I first started in engineering.

We got more **it done in those days and the camaraderie was such that it often didn’t feel like work.

Then eventually smoking was banned, you had to drink outside and the pinups started coming in envelopes designed to conceal what they were.

Today some firms wont hire if you smoke on your own time, would have a heart attack if they heard you had 1 drink at lunch and pinups= lawsuit by feminists.


24 posted on 06/29/2016 9:51:24 PM PDT by varyouga
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: ameribbean expat

Then, they spent their paychecks on beer; now, they spend their paychecks on peach-flavored wine coolers - a sure sign that the world is going steadily downhill.


25 posted on 06/29/2016 9:52:34 PM PDT by Jack Hammer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: varyouga

You have to feel sorry for those that didn’t work back then. Yes, a whole different atmosphere, and I never accused anyone of sexual harassment. :) If you couldn’t handle it, you didn’t belong there.

(I was the secretary for the engineering section of carter carburetor for awhile. Engineers are an interesting group of people.)


26 posted on 06/29/2016 9:59:26 PM PDT by Duchess47 ("One day I will leave this world and dream myself to Reality" Crazy Horse)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: ameribbean expat; SunkenCiv

A most important discovery.


27 posted on 06/29/2016 10:06:12 PM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (It's a shame enobama truly doesn't care about any of this. Our country, our future, he doesn't care)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Johnny Paycheck -- Me and the IRS

Johnny Paycheck -- Me and the IRS

28 posted on 06/30/2016 8:25:06 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (I'll tell you what's wrong with society -- no one drinks from the skulls of their enemies anymore.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Lurkina.n.Learnin; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; ...
Thanks Lurkina.n.Learnin.

29 posted on 06/30/2016 8:25:26 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (I'll tell you what's wrong with society -- no one drinks from the skulls of their enemies anymore.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Ancesthntr

“I call BS. Even doing your own personal chores is work.”

Indeed. Apparently this kommie fool visualizes these prehistoric peoples as if they’re like the Seven Dwarfs “hi-hoing” their way to their diamond mines every day.


30 posted on 06/30/2016 12:28:11 PM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Moonman62

The odds of getting something that blows your colon out your rear end were FAR lower drinking beer than drinking water in a populated area back in the day...


31 posted on 06/30/2016 7:42:38 PM PDT by Axenolith (Government blows, and that which governs least, blows least...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: HiTech RedNeck

Yes. Glass hadn’t been invented yet..................


32 posted on 05/09/2022 9:53:31 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: HiTech RedNeck

Supposedly, the Egyptian pyramid builders were paid in beer and bread................


33 posted on 05/09/2022 9:55:22 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-33 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson