Canal systems and other public works lead to the development of government and the growth of bureaucracy in Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Archaeological evidence at various levels of development throughout the world indicates that society is becoming more complex, elite groups are forming, and social organization is shifting from tribal groupings to chiefdoms and from chiefdoms to kingships.

The development of leavened bread can probably be traced to prehistoric times.

Yeast spores occur everywhere, including the surface of cereal grains, so any dough left to rest will become naturally leavened.

Although leavening is likely of prehistoric origin, the earliest archaeological evidence is from ancient Egypt, where baking developed into one of the first large-scale food production industries.

Scanning electron microscopy has detected yeast cells in some ancient Egyptian loaves.

However, ancient Egyptian bread was made from emmer wheat and has a dense crumb.

In cases where yeast cells are not visible, it is difficult, by visual examination, to determine whether the bread was leavened.

As a result, the extent to which bread was leavened in ancient Egypt remains uncertain.

Agricultural cultivation using horse collar leveraged plows (at about 3000 BCE) is one of the first innovations that increase productivity.

Wheat has by this time reached England and Scandinavia.

Technological advances in soil preparation and the placement of seed, the use of crop rotation and fertilizers to improve plant growth, and advances in harvesting methods have all combined to promote wheat as a viable crop.

The Beaker culture, a high-status burial rite widely adopted by local elites in most of western, central, and northern Europe in the late third millennium, produces geometrically patterned ceramic ware while disseminating early metal technology.

The disparities in wealth that are visible from typical Beaker graves marks an emergence of social ranking not evident in the more egalitarian Neolithic societies.