Proto-city
A proto-city, or a proto-town, is a large village or town of the Neolithic such as Jericho and Çatalhöyük,[1] and also any prehistoric settlement which has both rural and urban features. A proto-city is distinguished from a true city in that it lacks planning and centralized rule. For example, Jericho evidently had a class system, but no roads, while Çatalhöyük apparently lacked social stratification. This is what distinguishes them from the first city-states of the early Mesopotamian cities in the 4th millennium B.C. [2]
Prehistoric Egypt and the Ubaid period of Sumer featured what some call proto-cities. The break from these later mentioned settlements and urban settlements is the emergence of Eridu, the first Sumerian city, in the Uruk period around 4000 BC. A European example of this would be the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture of eastern Europe and north of the Black Sea, and which dates back to the fourth millennium BC.[3]
See also[]
- Wall of Jericho
References[]
- ^ Rice, Michael (2003). Egypt's Legacy: The Archetypes of Western Civilization: 3000 to 30 BC. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-203-48667-2.
On the Konya plain in central Anatolia lies the extraordinary settlement of Catal Huyuk, which was nothing less than a proto-city (perhaps, indeed, the proto-city), founded in the mid-seventh millennium BC.
- ^ Grant, Jim; Gorin, Sam; Fleming, Neil (31 March 2015). The Archaeology Coursebook: An Introduction to Themes, Sites, Methods and Skills. Routledge. ISBN 9780415526883.
- ^ "Trypillian Civilization. Introduction". Trypillian Civilization Journal. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019.
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