What was the single most important invention (created by humans, long ago) that led to the creation of civ?

Question

...civilization?

Answer 1

Agriculture ( including the domestication of animals) so that humans had a more stable food source,and that the population of humans would increase.

Answer 2

Language

but also, shelter.

"The Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer officially is believed to have begun around 4000-3500 BCE, and ended at 2334 BCE with the rise of Akkad. It was the world's first civilization. The oldest granary yet found dates back to 9500 BCE and is located in the Jordan Valley. The earliest known settlement in Jericho (9th millennium BCE) was a PPNA culture that eventually gave way to more developed settlements later, which included in one early settlement (8th millennium BCE) mud-brick houses surrounded by a stone wall, having a stone tower built into the wall. In this time there is evidence of domesticated emmer wheat, barley and pulses and hunting of wild animals." 1

Lastly, a water source, or irrigation as someone else has said. All of the earliest civilization sprung up near obvious water sources.

"With the Neolithic Revolution civilizations now began popping up in unsurprising locations - river valleys. These river valleys provided people with fertile soil due to their floods. These floods, combined with the new-found knowledge of farming and animal domestication, allowed for a stable food supply and so the Neolithic people settled down around these rivers. As these people lived together in one spot civilizations arose..." 2

Answer 3

Weapons like the sword, the pike, the spear; without which man could have never dominated other cultures and races, creating slaved, fostering class and society levels, and building the great cities of ancient days.
Unfortunately it's not something as grand as language and law, but the domination of weaker peoples through the use of force, by picking up a stick and using it as a weapon, and it's still going on today!

Answer 4

Language.

Answer 5

Irrigation. Cities are supported by the surplus (of food and children) produced by surrounding agricultural areas. Irrigation drastically increased the amount of land available for cultivation in Mesopotamia, allowing a portion of society to congregate in cities and devote their time to something other than food production.

Answer 6

The blender. I really couldn't live without my Margaretta's. Oh, and Nachos and cheese. Buffalo wings are very important as well. The backyard deck is also very important. I suppose things like medicine are important in their own way as well. So I go with medicine and the Margaretta.

Answer 7

Agriculture and herding (do those count as one?) It provides a much greater caloric intake taking much less time and effort, which freed up that time and effort for other pursuits.

Answer 8

According to Hobbes, it was government. This allowed us to escape the state of nature, the struggle of one against all, and to build society as we know it.

Answer 9

The written word. We are participating in it today on Yahoo Answers.

Answer 10

Thr printing press