ABSTRACT
The genesis of trade is long lost in the mists of time, but the origins of modern marketing may be found in antiquity. The study of ancient and medieval marketing is important because the most critical developments in trading occurred during these times. What might be regarded as ancient history in the Western world, say seventh century bce, roughly the time money and retail markets were evolving around the Mediterranean Sea, particularly in Lydia and surrounding Greek colonies, would be considered less ancient in the East, where the early civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China and India go back some 2,000 years earlier to developments in writing. The story of trading begins in prehistory, long before the alphabet. Spectrographic evidence of an obsidian trade, an easily flaked volcanic rock used to make sharp Neolithic tools, such as sharpened hand axes, have been found in many places around Mediterranean Sea distant from their volcanic sources.
