It may well have been in the Middle East, in an area called the Fertile Crescent.
All the major ancient civilizations—in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus valley, and China—emerged in the 4th millennium bc. Historians still debate over which one emerged first. It may well have been in the Middle East, in an area called the Fertile Crescent. This area stretches from the Nile River in Egypt northward along the coast of the historical region of 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.