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The First Civilizations

Evidence suggests that an important stimulus behind the rise of early

civilizations was the development of settled agriculture, which unleashed a

series of changes in the organization of human communities that culminated in

the rise of large ancient empires.

证据显示，早期文明兴起的一个重要刺激因素就是定居农业的发展。它导致了人类群落的组织结构出现一系列变更，在古代大型帝国的兴起时达到了顶峰。

The exact time and place that crops were first cultivated successfully is

uncertain. Many prehistorians believe that farming may have emerged

independently in several different areas of the world when small communities,

driven by increasing population and a decline in available food resources, began

to plant seeds in the ground in an effort to guarantee their survival. The first

farmers, who may have lived as long as 10,000 years ago, undoubtedly used simple

techniques and still relied primarily on other forms of food production, such as

hunting, foraging, or pastoralism. The real breakthrough took place when farmers

began to cultivate crops along the floodplains of river systems. The advantage

was that crops grown in such areas were not as dependent on rainfall and

therefore produced a more reliable harvest. An additional benefit was that the

sediment carried by the river waters deposited nutrients in the soil, thus

enabling the farmer to cultivate a single plot of ground for many years without

moving to a new location. Thus, the first truly sedentary (that is,

non-migratory) societies were born. As time went on, such communities gradually

learned how to direct the flow of water to enhance the productive capacity of