CLEP Western Civ I

Answer: E - Human civilization was made possible, first and foremost, by agricultural developments. Prior to the successful cultivation of land on an ongoing basis, people lived as hunter-gatherers. Until the Sumerians and Egyptians learned how to irrigate their land for agriculture, there were no concentrated population centers (which created the need for government, established a location for collective intelligence so that people could develop a system of written language, and allowed for the development of religion among a group of people); there was no collective need for labor, division of labor, or development of specialized crafts; and, there was no local surplus of goods to be traded with other communities (which allowed people to build wealth and expand their territory).