Commodity market in Sumer between 4500 BC and 4000 BC. Sumerians first used clay tokens sealed in a clay vessel, then clay writing tablets to represent the amount—for example, the number of goats, to be delivered. These promises of time and date of delivery resemble futures contract. Early civilizations variously used pigs, rare seashells, or other items as commodity money. Since that time traders have sought ways to simplify and standardize trade contracts. Gold and silver markets evolved in classical civilizations. At first the precious metals were valued for their beauty and intrinsic worth and were associated with royalty. In time, they
Simple commodity production amalgamated, in order to become tradeable assets in the process of capital accumulation. The ideology of the rising bourgeoisie typically emphasized the benefits of privately owned property for the purpose of wealth creation and industriousness. Marx refers to this process as the primitive accumulation of capital, a process which continues particularly in developing countries to this day. Typically, previously independent producers on the land are proletarianised and migrate to the urban centres, in search of work from an employer. Simple commodity production nevertheless continues to occur on a large scale in the world economy, particularly in peasant production. It also