In so doing they created the first calendars. With a calendar it was possible to calculate the arrival of each growing season. Measurement of land areas was necessary if property was to be divided accurately. Later came measures of value as commodity and money exchange became common. The use of various ways of measuring led naturally to record keeping, and for this some form of writing was necessary.
Historians still debate over which one emerged first.
It may well have been the Middle East, in an area called the Fertile Crescent. This region stretches from the Nile River in Egypt northward along the coast of former Palestine, then eastward into Asia to include Mesopotamia. In this area people settled along the riverbanks and practiced field agriculture. This kind of farming depended on the reproduction of seed, normally from grain crops. By about 5000 BC , small tribes of farmers had made their way to the river valleys.