25 June 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Anatolia’s first company was founded 4000 years ago with 15 kilos of gold!

A 4,000-year-old tablet found in Kültepe shows that the first company in Anatolia was established by 12 people with 15 kilograms of gold.

The excavations carried out in Kültepe Kaniş-Karum Ruins on the Kayseri-Sivas highway shed light on the commercial past of Anatolia.

In the initial years of the 2nd millennium, the Assyrians founded multiple trading settlements in Anatolia.   In archaeological terminology, the period of the Assyrian colonies, covering the first two centuries or so of the second millennium, is commonly known as the Middle Bronze Age. During this period, the Assyrians were very active in international trading and commercial ventures. The focal point of the merchant operations was the city of Nesa or Kanesh (Kültepe, also known as Kanesh or Nesha).

Kültepe is considered one of the oldest trade centers of Anatolia and has a history of 6 thousand years. Excavations have been going on continuously for 75 years and more than 20 thousand cuneiform tablets have been found so far. These tablets reveal the commercial activities of the period in detail.

Kültepe Excavation Head Professor Fikri Kulakoğlu said that the first company in Anatolia was founded 4 thousand years ago by 12 people with 15 kilos of gold.

Photo: Kayseri Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism
Photo: Kayseri Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism

Prof. Dr. Kulakoğlu states that most of the tablets in Kültepe were for commercial purposes and all kinds of financial transactions were recorded. Many details ranging from the expenditures of caravans to credit and debit relations are included in these tablets. This shows that Kültepe was a very active and large trade center at that time.

Prof. Dr. Kulakoğlu stated that the information obtained from the tablets revealed that the first company established in Anatolia was established with a capital of 15 kilograms of gold and that this company had 12 partners. Each partner became a shareholder of the company by giving gold in different proportions. The capital of the company was managed by a merchant named Amur Ishtar for 12 years and one third of the profit was shared. All transactions related to the company were sealed and recorded in the presence of witnesses.

Kulakoğlu said, “If you want to withdraw your share of the company’s capital before the due date, you will be given about 4 kilos of silver instead of 1 kilo of gold. If you withdraw your capital before its due date, you are making a loss. In other words, it is guaranteed that the capital will remain in place for a long period of 12 years.”

According to a 4,000-year-old clay tablet exhibited in the Kayseri Museum, the first company in Anatolia was founded by 12 people with a capital of 15 kilograms of gold. Photo: İHA
According to a 4,000-year-old clay tablet exhibited in the Kayseri Museum, the first company in Anatolia was founded by 12 people with a capital of 15 kilograms of gold. Photo: İHA

“The tablets found here are dated to the period after the 1950s BC. This is the period when writing first started in Anatolia. Naturally, it is the first declaration of the first company in Anatolia, in a sense, a company deed. It appears here for the first time in Anatolia,” he said.

Clay tablets do not only contain commercial information. Many social life details such as marriage contracts, divorces, inheritance documents, and notary procedures are also included in these tablets. This shows that Kültepe is a great source for us to understand the social and economic life of the period.

İHA

Cover Photo: İHA

Related Articles

From Caves to Mounds: The Enigmatic Burial Practices of the Southern Jê in Brazil

25 February 2025

25 February 2025

A groundbreaking study published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology sheds light on the enigmatic burial practices of the Southern...

A Monument complex and inscription belonging to Ilteris Kutlug Kagan, the founder of the Eastern Göktürk Khanate, were found

24 August 2022

24 August 2022

A Turkish inscription of İlteriş Kutlug Kağan was found during the joint scientific archaeological expedition of the International Turkic Academy...

Lost medieval road thought to have been used by famous Scottish king Robert the Bruce found

27 June 2021

27 June 2021

Excavating a hill considered to have played a critical part in the Battle of Bannockburn, archaeologists discovered a forgotten medieval...

Archaeologists uncover ancient mosaic of the living room of brutal Publius Vedius Pollio

13 December 2022

13 December 2022

In the Pausilypon Archaeological Park, archaeologists from the University of Naples’ “L’Orientale” uncovered an ancient mosaic. The park is located...

A 4000-Year-Old Seal Found in the prehistoric coastal site of Kalba on the Gulf of Oman

5 April 2024

5 April 2024

Archaeologists discovered a Gulf-type seal made of soft stone dating to the end of the third millennium BC at Kalba,...

The sword, thought to be a replica, turned out to be an authentic 3000-year-old Bronze Age sword

22 January 2023

22 January 2023

A sword in Chicago’s Field Museum that was previously thought to be a replica has been revealed to be an...

Important archaeological find in the seas of Sicily: Archaic stone anchors found off Syracuse

24 November 2023

24 November 2023

During a joint operation by the Maritime Superintendency of the Sicilian Region and the Diving Unit of the Guardia di...

An Iron Age Necropolis was discovered in the Normandy, northwestern France

11 May 2022

11 May 2022

A modest Iron Age agricultural settlement excavated at Blainville-sur-Orne in Normandy, northwest France, led to the unexpected discovery of a...

Complex Of Early Neolithic Monuments Discovered In Herefordshire, England

22 July 2023

22 July 2023

Archaeologists discovered a remarkable complex of early Neolithic monuments while investigating the area around Dorstone Hill in Herefordshire, England. The...

Statue heads of “Aphrodite” and “Dionysus” were found in Aizanoi Ancient City in Turkey’s

30 October 2021

30 October 2021

The statue heads of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, and Dionysus, the god of wine, were unearthed in...

Bone workshop and oil lamp shop unearthed in Aizanoi ancient city in western Turkey

13 November 2021

13 November 2021

Archaeologists have unearthed a bone workshop and an oil lamp shop in an Aizanoi ancient city in the Çavdarhisar district...

Rare Hittite bracelet, 3300 years old, found by a farmer

28 March 2022

28 March 2022

A farmer in Turkey’s Çorum province discovered a rare 3,300-year-old ancient bracelet from the Hittite era while plowing his farm....

A new study attributes Japanese, Korean and Turkish languages all to a common ancestor in northeastern China

11 November 2021

11 November 2021

According to a new study, modern languages ranging from Japanese and Korean to Turkish and Mongolian may have had a...

A first-of-its-kind Ayyanar stone idol found in Vellore, India

25 June 2022

25 June 2022

An Ayyanar stone idol, the first of its kind in Vellore, was discovered at Thandalai Krishnapuram (TK Puram) in Tamil...

The ancient necropolis area in Turkey’s Antalya becomes a museum

22 July 2023

22 July 2023

The East Garage Necropolis Area, which was once a public market in the southern province of Antalya and where archaeological...