1.

3
The Earliest Cities

Identifying and Defining Cities

1. Cities are difficult to define, and are
multifaceted, complex entities.
2. Many definitions are relativistic.
3. Urbanization is a complex process, not a
simple, neat evolution from simple to
complex.
. Examine early examples of settlements that
are sometimes identified as the first cities.

Identifying and Defining Cities

Demography: larger, denser populations living in
contiguous conditions
Geography: cities as discrete places existing in
opposition to but reciprocally with the countryside
Social complexity and stratification: complex,
stratified societies administered by impersonal and
specialized groups/institutions.
The State: impersonal institutions arise to manage
particular responsibilities.
Topography: specialized, discrete features that are
tied to, but not dictated by, function.
Self-identification: residents identify with cities, tied
to ideas of citizenship.

Gordon Childe

Gordon Childe and Conditions for the

Urban Revolution
1. Concentration of large number of
people in a restricted area.
2. Developed social stratification.
3. Specialization: craft, religious,
economic, administrative specialization.
4. Economic surplus and its appropriation
by a central authority (i.e. state)
5. Writing: for administrative,
organizational, recording purposes.

Gordon Childe and Conditions for the

Urban Revolution
6. Predictive sciences: forecasting
weather, agricultural production.
7. Monumental public architecture:
temples, palaces, fortifications, tombs.
8. Figural art.
9. Foreign trade.
10.Residence-based group membership:
shared sense of community for all
members, regardless of profession or
class.

The Neolithic Revolution

Agriculture: includes cultivation and
animal domestication and husbandry.
Pottery production
Metallurgy
Writing and recording systems
Urbanization: formation of the first
cities.

The Neolithic
Upper Paleolithic: 35,000 - 10,000 BCE
Mesolithic: 10,000 8500 BCE
Neolithic: 8500 3000 BCE
Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN): 8500 - 5500 BCE
PPN A: 8500 7600 BCE
PPN B: 7600 5500 BCE

Pottery Neolithic: 5500 4500 BCE

Halaf and Ubaid Periods: 5500 3500 BCE
Uruk Period: 4000 3000 BCE

Jericho: First City or Walled

Settlement?

Jericho
Inhabited ca. 9000
BCE present
Earliest known
settlement in Near
East

Located in Jordan
River Valley: direct
access to a
reliable water
source

Jericho

PPN A Jericho
8500 7600 BCE

PPN A Jericho: the Wall

PPN B Jericho
7600 5500 BCE

PPN B Jericho
7600 5500 BCE

PPN B Jericho
7600 550 BCE

Evaluating Jericho
1. Demography

2. Geography

3. Social complexity/stratification

4. State institutions

5. Topography, public and specialized

architecture

6. Self-identification
7. Occupational specialization

8. Economic surpluses

9. Writing
10. Predictive sciences
11. Figural art

12. Foreign trade

ayn: Continuous Urban

Development
Inhabited 8250 5000
BCE
Phases include PPNA,
PPNB, Pottery Neolithic

Introduction of
metallurgy
Houses, public buildings,
open spaces with
multiple arrangements
in different periods.
No fortification wall.

Located on Tigris River,

SE Turkey

ayn in the PPN: 8250 6000

BCE

Phase 1: PPNA and PPNB

Subphase 1: Round Building subphase
Subphase 2: Grill Plan subphase
Subphase 3: Channeled Building subphase
Subphase 4: Cobble-paved Building
subphase
Subphase 5: Cell Building Subphase
Subphase 6: Large-room Building
Subphase

ayn
Subphase 1, Round Buildings

ayn
Subphase 2: Grill Plan

ayn
Subphase 3: Channeled Building

ayn
Subphase 4: Cobble-paved Building

ayn
Subphase 5: Cell Building

ayn Cult Buildings

ayn
Subphase 6: Large-room Building

ayn
Pottery Neolithic (Phase II): 6000-5000 BCE

ayn Production

Evaluating ayn
1. Demography

2. Geography

3. Social complexity/stratification

4. State institutions
5. Topography, public and specialized
architecture

6. Self-identification
7. Occupational specialization
8. Economic surpluses
9. Writing
10. Predictive sciences
11. Figural art
12. Foreign trade