Passages in the Bible indicate that silver  BIS Review 100/2001  1  1  was used as a means of payment in the time of Genesis. The first coins--lumps of “electrum,” a natural mixture of gold and silver--were introduced in Asia Minor in the seventh century B.C. in Lydia, now part of Turkey.
Driving the evolution of money, from the earliest emergence of commodity money, has been the desire to increase the efficiency of carrying out exchanges. In the absence of money, trade is accomplished by barter, the direct exchange of commodities or services to the mutual advantage of both parties. Such exchanges require a double coincidence of wants or multiple trades.