Giving something you have extra of, in exchange for something you want, has probably existed for as long as humans have known you can "keep" things, as long as the concept of possession.

However the cradle of civilization seems to be somewhere in the Middle East. This was a fascinating time, where most people were still nomadic, tribal, not far removed from hunter-gathering and fairly wild.

There were a couple of city-states in the area, large collectives of people that found something useful in a certain area, built up some significant things that they didn't want to leave, and thus the first cities were formed.
Eridu, Uruk, Jericho, Damascus, Jerusalem, these are all ancient cities in the area. They say written language was invented around this time so that it was easier to keep track of trading and who owned what, because the scale of inter-human interaction had reached the point where no individual could keep track of it all.

This would be a fascinating time to write a book about. Wild men on one side, the beginnings of corporation on the other. Everything fresh and untamed and waiting to be discovered. Nothing separating you from an unremarkable death except your wits. A time where humanity was developing a collective consciousness and people were dreaming of the future.