The Neolithic transition brought with it the change from subsistence farming to sedentary agricultural lifestyles. The development of sedentary farming communities brought the Neolithic era an influx of new technology that makes this era a monumental marker for human history. These communities also brought new techniques for planting, fertilizing, and selecting seeds which all created larger yields and increased the reliance on sedentary cultivation. They also may be responsible for the decline of women's' social and economic positions in society that still affect people today. By 3500 B.C. people in the Middle East supported enough nonagricultural people to begin the first civilizations by using technology and tools such as digging sticks,
