The First FarmersEconomy & Trade Clay counting tokens c. 8,000 BCENotable Small clay shapes track goods like grain and sheep, the ancestors of writing and accounting. ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → Habitual fire and cooking → Homo sapiens appears → Complex language → Natufian villages → Oldest known bread → Agriculture begins → Clay counting tokens Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesBookDenise Schmandt-BesseratBefore Writing ↗Editor's pickBookDenise Schmandt-BesseratHow Writing Came About ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubeclay tokens origin of writing ↗Editor's pick