I agree, it doesn't automatically follow and it's unlikely on the face of it. A shepherd, for one example, is unlikely to transact on a daily basis, in fact he

I agree, it doesn't automatically follow and it's unlikely on the face of it. A shepherd, for one example, is unlikely to transact on a daily basis, in fact he or she might not see another human being for weeks during summer transhumance. A merchant, on the other hand, would handle cash dozens of times a day. The inference that even a shepherd would sell sheep for cash, and use it to acquire the supplies his family needed, is intriguing, but needs to be demonstrated: probably not with grave goods, since we wouldn't expect a peasant to necessarily be buried with something as fungibly valuable as cash (though I wouldn't rule it out! We don't know how far back paying the oarsman's toll goes!), but finding the right corpse would go far.