The story of our humanistic tradition begins in the prehistory of the human family as it struggled for survival in an environment it sought to control. Paleolithic people were tribal hunters and gatherers who attempted to control nature by means of stone and bone tools and weapons, and cooperated with natural cycles by moving with the food supply they gathered. Neolithic people sought even greater control over nature by producing crops and domesticating animals. With the birth of civilization (about 4000 B.C.E.) in river valleys from the North Africa to China, urban trading centers cultivated the hallmarks of early civilization, including a written system of record-keeping, bronze technology, wheeled vehicles, and monumental architecture.