Most scientists believe that the first human beings evolved from prehuman ancestors about 2 million years ago in Africa. For hundreds of thousands of years, prehistoric people lived by hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plants.<NP> The earliest people made tools from stone, and perhaps from wood and other materials. By about 500,000 years ago, people began to use fire.<NP> The first people with features like those of modern human beings appeared about 100,000 years ago in either the Middle East or Africa. Most scientists believe that people did not begin to farm until about 11,000 years ago, or 9000 B.C.<NP> People invented writing and began to record history about 3500 B.C., thus ending the period known as prehistory.
