Political Memes

Even in a hierarchical community materially established well beyond immediate concern for survival, if everyone knows everyone else and society isn't structured around a pursuit of upward mobility then mutual aid kind of runs the show as an unspoken matter of fact. You give a cow to your neighbor because he's always there for you and you want to support that fact. Or viewed cynically, your involvement in those social exchanges (Because absent money, material exchanges are just social exchanges) is important for maintaining your social standing.

I've never read of money being invented primarily to do remote trade. I have however read of money being foisted upon communities by distant traders, seeking to create new trade partners (We do that today too, the IMF calls it "Lifting people out of poverty"). And in all cases I know of where distant trade wasn't monetary it was either 1) People who already knew money but didn't have a common currency (Like the silk road) or 2) They viewed it as a diplomatic gift exchange (Like indigenous Americans making contact with Europeans).