Cities

and

Civilization

TheDomestication of the Human Species

Sources

Lewis Mumford The City in History

V. Gordon Childe, “The Urban Revolution”

Lewis Mumford, “What is a City?”

Diffusion of urbanism

By urbanism we mean a way of life, a set of institutions, a kind of social organization

Invented various times and places

Diffused from each of these places to other places

Earliest urban “hearths”

Turkey

Mesopotamia

Egypt

Indus Valley

Yellow River valley, China

Mesoamerica

Andean America

E. and S. Africa

What’s in a word?

Civic, civilization, civilize, city, civility

What’s the common thread?

These English words reflect the long association between the idea of urban life and the idea of some kind of refinement of thought or behavior

All of these words derive from Latin

The association is as old as the Roman empire: the Romans saw city building as the way to spread civilization

Civil-izing viewed in retrospect

Does urban life uplift the human spirit?

Is the city a way to escape from the grim struggle of

nature with predators & prey?

As we adapt to “second nature” what happens to our

relationship with “first nature”?

Is urban culture a step above folk dances, folk songs,

traditional handicrafts and the rest of rural culture?

What is the point of overcoming the instincts bred in

people over millions of years living in non-urban

environments… is it worth the struggle?

Who invented the city?

The city was invented not once but many times in

different Neolithic cultures. Ingredients:

Concentrated population

Social hierarchy & formal institutions

Defense against outsiders (wall)

Monumental architecture (temples, palaces)

Management of resources

• Creation of irrigation systems, granaries, etc.

• Collection of taxes/tribute

• Distribution to members of the court

• Distribution to subjects in times of famine

Characteristics of Early Cities

“Early” cities emerge at different times in

different places

Populations ranging from a few thousand to more than

100,000

Often have city wall indicating need for defense

Have a Citadel indicating an aristocratic/priestly ruling

class and more generally a social hierarchy

Most have record-keeping technologies (like counting

devices or primitive forms of written notation)

indicating that urban life requires record keeping

Why is the wall integral to the

earliest cities?

Earliest urban communities were surrounded by nomadic people coming and going

Wild animals were common during early urbanization in most places

Cities were known to have food and water, so in times of scarcity nomadic people often tried to raid cities

As more cities developed, their kings began to lead raids on other cities for plunder, slaves, and territory

Walls might have helped control slaves and other urban residents who were less than willing to cooperate with the king and his forces

Mesa Verde, Colorado

Early city or fortified

village?

Largest cliff dwelling (Cliff

Palace) had room for only

100-120 people

Essentially a village

Urban Site Issues

“Pueblo Bonito”

Chaco Canyon, NM, “Anasazi” people

Large village or small city built in stages beginning around 919 AD

1000-2000 occupants, up to 600 rooms in use, 5 stories in height along back wall

Access to rooms through central courtyard, which contained two great kivas and was lined by over 35 smaller kivas

“Teotihuacan” (near Mexico city)

Emerged as urban center

around 0 AD and lasted

for more than 600 years

60-80,000 inhabitants!

Boston didn’t reach this

population until the

1830s

Apartment buildings,

wide avenues, huge

pyramids, districts with

specialized functions

“Avenue of the Dead,” Teotihuacan

Architectural Detail, Teotihuacan

What does this sculpture “tell” us?

Found in excavation of Teotihuacan

Says two things about the division of labor

Says something about cultural development

Social specializationSculptor

Acrobat

Acrobat’s audience

Sculptor’s “audience”/patrons

What does this sculpture tell us?

Found in a Mayan

archaeological site

Demonstrates both the

role of the artist in

serving and glorifying

power, and the

supreme power of the

king

What do these artifacts tell us?

Found in a Mayan archaeological site

Prisoner and sacrificial victim demonstrate the link between urban culture and organized violence/warfare

Organized violence is not necessarily “uncivilized” (since it comes with civilization) although it is horrific

Çatal Hüyük

In what is today Turkey

Population of between 5,000 and 6,000 people

Inhabited around 6800-5400 B.C.

Houses packed together

Each house was entered through a hole in the roof (defense?)

Urbillum, Irbil, Erbil, Arbela,

Arabilu

Oldest city that is presently occupied

Has been a city for 4,300 years, creating an enormous “tell” that has not yet been excavated

Walled city on hill created classic urban form

Under control of Sumerians, Persians, Macedonians, Ottoman Empire, Kurds & Iraq

“Mohenjo-Daro” (mound of the dead)

Harappan culture (Indus valley, in what is now Pakistan)

Peak around 2000 BC

About 35,000 residents

Assembly halls, giant granary, towers, and cistern (bath?) in the citadel

Axial layout

Centrally planned (similar to other Harappan cities)

Covered sewers!

Harappan cities (artist’s conception)

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Ziggurats (Mesopotamian temples)

Assyrian conquest, 9th c. BC

Women and children celebrate outside their walled-city as the dead float by

City has always required defending

Mumford suggests that people were not psychologically and culturally prepared for the regimentation and social stress of urban life so they took out their tension and aggression on other groups

Assyrians taking captivesfrom a 9th c. BC engraving (source: Society of Ancients: http://www.soa.org.uk)

The “Citadel”

Found in many early cities

Takes various forms

A compound of grandiose structures, often walled off from rest of city

Functioned as:

place of ceremony

home for semi-divine leaders and their “court”

place to store (and guard) the food reserves

“Mohenjo-Daro” (mound of the dead)

Social Hierarchy

Large population concentrations both facilitated and necessitated specialization of social roles

Ruler (usually thought to have god-like powers)

Priests (doubled as administrators)

Technicians (e.g. surveyors, engineers)

Artisans & performers

Merchants

Subjects (mostly farmers)

Conquered peoples

Slaves

Cosmo-Magical Order

Regular “grid-iron” layout was not originally designed for practical purposes

Cities like Teotihuacan, Roman colonies, and China’s Forbidden City were aligned with the cardinal directions (axially) in an attempt to make them eternal and powerful

The city, especially the citadel, was believed to be the center of the universe; its axiality demonstrated that idea visually

Early cities show extensive evidence of sacred places in the form of shrines, temples, etc.

Tokens

Used from 8,000 BC

throughout the Middle

East into Indus Valley

Represented goods

that were traded or

collected as tithes

(taxes of produce)Grain

Oil container

Wool fleece

Garment

Etc.

Early writing systems

Mayan hieroglyphs

Egyptian hieroglyphsCuneiform (Sumerian)

Role of Record Keeping

Early urbanism is associated with record keeping

of various kinds

This permitted the extension of control through

space and time

Conquest & empire

Long-distance administration and military coordination

Dynasties & legal codes

Solidification of trade agreements

Urban Cultural Achievements

Primitive forms of notation

Nutritional security

Refinement of handicrafts

Art

Astronomy

Mathematics

Warfare (achievement?)

Religious elaboration and regimentation (achievement?)

Websites that were helpful

Catal Huyuk: http://campus.northpark.edu/history/classes/Sources/CatalHuyuk.html

Teotihuacan: http://archaeology.la.asu.edu/teo/intro/citymp1.htm

Cahokia: http://medinfo.wustl.edu/~mckinney/cahokia/site.html

Tikal: http://mayaruins.com/tikal/Tikal_InnerMap.html

Mohenjo-Daro: http://emuseum.mnsu.edu/archaeology/sites/middle_east/mohenjo_daro.html