Urban and regional planning (1)
THE DAWN OF URBAN LIFE
In the history of human civilization, the emergence of cities and towns was an epoch making
one. Mesopotamia, Egypt and Indus valley- all these are considered as cradles of ancient
urban civilization around 3000 BC as the then cities displayed both organic and planned types
of urban form. But actually the dawn of towns and cities has its roots in more ancient times
around 7000 BC in Asia Minor. So, it is of great importance and significance what is the
underlying reason and what led the human’s primitive prehistory to shift from nomadic
hunting life into a more civilized urban community and bring about a revolutionary change in
human race.
It was the Neolithic period from which human beings were approaching towards a more
civilized, systematic urban life. Prior to Neolithic period for hundreds of thousands of years
the activities and life pattern was confined only within nomadic life as they had to rely only
on hunting and gathering foods for their daily requirements. Growing of foods, cultivation of
land and domestication of animals were out of their knowledge. Caves were the shelter. So
we can easily determine that there were no permanent settlements in that time span.
Historians identified this time period as Paleolithic age (250,000- 10,000 BC).
But human race cannot be static. Though in a small pace it was approaching towards a new
era of development. It was the end of the last ice age around 10,000 BC and human beings
learned to make more developed and refined tools. Although Neolithic people made a new
type of polished stone axes, this was not the major change that occurred after 10,000 BC.
The real change in human history during that era came when humans thought about
systematic agriculture with the refined tools they had developed. They also domesticated
some animals instead of merely hunting them. The growing of food crops and tanking of food
producing animals created a new relationship between humans and nature. Systematic
agriculture developed independently in different areas of the world between 8000 and 5000
BC. Inhabitants of the Middle East began cultivating wheat and barley and domesticating
pigs, cattle, goats, and sheep by 8000 B.C.E. From the Middle East, farming spread into the
Balkans region of Europe by 6500 B.C. With the systematic agriculture they did not only
fulfill their daily requirements of foods but also there were some agricultural surplus to them.
Historians like to remark this as an Agricultural Revolution or Neolithic Revolution. But
what is the relationship between this Neolithic Revolution and emergence of cities and
towns?
Systematic agriculture results the nomadic life to be absolutely futile. Now people built
permanent houses for shelters in a community for protection of foods and goods. As
organized communities stored food and accumulated material goods, they began to engage in
trade. People also began to specialize in certain crafts. Moreover, vegetable fibers from such
plants as flax and cotton were used to make thread that were woven into cloth. Agricultural
surpluses also made it possible for people to do other than farming. Some people became
artisans and made weapons and jewelry that were traded with neighboring people.
Once the occupation of people which had been confined only in hunting and gathering foods
was more diversified and specialized. This resulted the division of labour. Diversified
occupation and their interdependence resulted from agricultural surplus led to a concentration
of population along with the permanent settlements in certain places as a trade hub, centre of
activities and services and protection. And certainly, all of these activities, requirements were
ushering the unavoidable emergence of cities and towns.
Although we indicate only Egypt, Babylon and Indus civilization as the most ancient urban
civilization the history of emergence of urban life was more before. Two of the earliest of
these settlements as small towns were at Jericho in what is today the Israeli-occupied West
Bank, and at Catal Huyuk in present-day southern Turkey.
JERICHO
Fig: Dwelling foundations unearthed in Jericho.
Jericho is the most ancient town located in an oasis in Wadi Qelt in the Jordan Valley close
to the Jordan River. It was built. By 7000 B.C. over ten acres at the site were occupied by
round houses of mud and brick resting on stone foundations. Most early houses had only a
single room with mud plaster floors and a domed ceiling, but some houses had as many as
three rooms. The town was enclosed by a ditch cut into the rocky soil surrounded by a stone
wall reaching almost 12 feet in height with a stone tower in the centre of one wall.
Though the economy of Jericho was based primarily upon the farming of wheat and barley,
there is considerable evidence of reliance on both hunting and trade. The town was close to
large supplies of salt, sulfur, and pitch. These materials, which were in great demand in this
era, were traded for obsidian - dark, glasslike volcanic rock - semiprecious stones from
Anatolia, turquoise from the Sinai and cowrie shells from the Red Sea.
After a few centuries, it was abandoned for a second settlement, established in 6800 BC,
perhaps by an invading people who absorbed the original inhabitants into their dominant
culture.
Catal Huyuk:
Fig: the form of the city at Catal Huyuk
The first community at this site in southern Turkey was founded around 7000 B.C.,
somewhat later than the earliest settlements at Jericho. The oldest layer of Catal Huyuk yet
excavated is reliably carbon dated to 6,500 BC. After 4.900 B.C. the entire area was forsaken
-- there are no traces of any later buildings. Thus, the full duration of this early city is
measured from approximately 7,000 B.C. to 4,900 B.C. some 2,100 years.
The town that grew up at Catal Huyuk was a good deal more extensive than that at Jericho.
Catal Huyuk was in fact the most advanced human center of the Neolithic period. At the peak
of its power and prosperity the city occupied 32 acres and contained as many as 6000 people.
Its rectangular buildings, which were centers of family life and community interaction, were
remarkably uniform - built of mud-dried bricks. The houses were joined together to provide
fortification for the town. Since each dwelling had a substantial storeroom, when the ladder to
the roof entrance was pulled up, each became a separate fortress within the larger complex.
The many religious shrines found at the site also indicate the existence of a powerful
Priesthood. The obvious importance of the cult shrines and the elaborate burial practices of
the peoples of Catal Huyuk reveal the growing role of religion in the lives of Neolithic
peoples. The carefully carved sculptures associated with the sanctuaries and the fine jewelry,
mirrors, and weapons found buried with the dead attest to the high level of material culture
and artistic proficiency achieved by these town dwellers.
Trade was extensive. The widespread presence of trade goods and materials from the
Anatolian plateau, found throughout the Near and Middle East, reinforces the notion that
traders must have regularly visited the city.
These are modern Obsidian points. This black volcanic glass was the economic fuel that
powered Catal Huyuk.
But around 4900 BC the city was abandoned. Probably after a time, the surrounding region
was deforested in the quest for firewood, overhunted, and damaged by agriculture -- a
familiar pattern. Possibly the rivers which supplied Catal Huyuk with timber, transportation,
and trade changed their course, isolating the city.
Md. Mashrur Rahman Mishu
Student,
Dept of Urban and Regional Planning,
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
Phone: 01722062970
E-mail: [email protected]
In the history of human civilization, the emergence of cities and towns was an epoch making
one. Mesopotamia, Egypt and Indus valley- all these are considered as cradles of ancient
urban civilization around 3000 BC as the then cities displayed both organic and planned types
of urban form. But actually the dawn of towns and cities has its roots in more ancient times
around 7000 BC in Asia Minor. So, it is of great importance and significance what is the
underlying reason and what led the human’s primitive prehistory to shift from nomadic
hunting life into a more civilized urban community and bring about a revolutionary change in
human race.
It was the Neolithic period from which human beings were approaching towards a more
civilized, systematic urban life. Prior to Neolithic period for hundreds of thousands of years
the activities and life pattern was confined only within nomadic life as they had to rely only
on hunting and gathering foods for their daily requirements. Growing of foods, cultivation of
land and domestication of animals were out of their knowledge. Caves were the shelter. So
we can easily determine that there were no permanent settlements in that time span.
Historians identified this time period as Paleolithic age (250,000- 10,000 BC).
But human race cannot be static. Though in a small pace it was approaching towards a new
era of development. It was the end of the last ice age around 10,000 BC and human beings
learned to make more developed and refined tools. Although Neolithic people made a new
type of polished stone axes, this was not the major change that occurred after 10,000 BC.
The real change in human history during that era came when humans thought about
systematic agriculture with the refined tools they had developed. They also domesticated
some animals instead of merely hunting them. The growing of food crops and tanking of food
producing animals created a new relationship between humans and nature. Systematic
agriculture developed independently in different areas of the world between 8000 and 5000
BC. Inhabitants of the Middle East began cultivating wheat and barley and domesticating
pigs, cattle, goats, and sheep by 8000 B.C.E. From the Middle East, farming spread into the
Balkans region of Europe by 6500 B.C. With the systematic agriculture they did not only
fulfill their daily requirements of foods but also there were some agricultural surplus to them.
Historians like to remark this as an Agricultural Revolution or Neolithic Revolution. But
what is the relationship between this Neolithic Revolution and emergence of cities and
towns?
Systematic agriculture results the nomadic life to be absolutely futile. Now people built
permanent houses for shelters in a community for protection of foods and goods. As
organized communities stored food and accumulated material goods, they began to engage in
trade. People also began to specialize in certain crafts. Moreover, vegetable fibers from such
plants as flax and cotton were used to make thread that were woven into cloth. Agricultural
surpluses also made it possible for people to do other than farming. Some people became
artisans and made weapons and jewelry that were traded with neighboring people.
Once the occupation of people which had been confined only in hunting and gathering foods
was more diversified and specialized. This resulted the division of labour. Diversified
occupation and their interdependence resulted from agricultural surplus led to a concentration
of population along with the permanent settlements in certain places as a trade hub, centre of
activities and services and protection. And certainly, all of these activities, requirements were
ushering the unavoidable emergence of cities and towns.
Although we indicate only Egypt, Babylon and Indus civilization as the most ancient urban
civilization the history of emergence of urban life was more before. Two of the earliest of
these settlements as small towns were at Jericho in what is today the Israeli-occupied West
Bank, and at Catal Huyuk in present-day southern Turkey.
JERICHO
Fig: Dwelling foundations unearthed in Jericho.
Jericho is the most ancient town located in an oasis in Wadi Qelt in the Jordan Valley close
to the Jordan River. It was built. By 7000 B.C. over ten acres at the site were occupied by
round houses of mud and brick resting on stone foundations. Most early houses had only a
single room with mud plaster floors and a domed ceiling, but some houses had as many as
three rooms. The town was enclosed by a ditch cut into the rocky soil surrounded by a stone
wall reaching almost 12 feet in height with a stone tower in the centre of one wall.
Though the economy of Jericho was based primarily upon the farming of wheat and barley,
there is considerable evidence of reliance on both hunting and trade. The town was close to
large supplies of salt, sulfur, and pitch. These materials, which were in great demand in this
era, were traded for obsidian - dark, glasslike volcanic rock - semiprecious stones from
Anatolia, turquoise from the Sinai and cowrie shells from the Red Sea.
After a few centuries, it was abandoned for a second settlement, established in 6800 BC,
perhaps by an invading people who absorbed the original inhabitants into their dominant
culture.
Catal Huyuk:
Fig: the form of the city at Catal Huyuk
The first community at this site in southern Turkey was founded around 7000 B.C.,
somewhat later than the earliest settlements at Jericho. The oldest layer of Catal Huyuk yet
excavated is reliably carbon dated to 6,500 BC. After 4.900 B.C. the entire area was forsaken
-- there are no traces of any later buildings. Thus, the full duration of this early city is
measured from approximately 7,000 B.C. to 4,900 B.C. some 2,100 years.
The town that grew up at Catal Huyuk was a good deal more extensive than that at Jericho.
Catal Huyuk was in fact the most advanced human center of the Neolithic period. At the peak
of its power and prosperity the city occupied 32 acres and contained as many as 6000 people.
Its rectangular buildings, which were centers of family life and community interaction, were
remarkably uniform - built of mud-dried bricks. The houses were joined together to provide
fortification for the town. Since each dwelling had a substantial storeroom, when the ladder to
the roof entrance was pulled up, each became a separate fortress within the larger complex.
The many religious shrines found at the site also indicate the existence of a powerful
Priesthood. The obvious importance of the cult shrines and the elaborate burial practices of
the peoples of Catal Huyuk reveal the growing role of religion in the lives of Neolithic
peoples. The carefully carved sculptures associated with the sanctuaries and the fine jewelry,
mirrors, and weapons found buried with the dead attest to the high level of material culture
and artistic proficiency achieved by these town dwellers.
Trade was extensive. The widespread presence of trade goods and materials from the
Anatolian plateau, found throughout the Near and Middle East, reinforces the notion that
traders must have regularly visited the city.
These are modern Obsidian points. This black volcanic glass was the economic fuel that
powered Catal Huyuk.
But around 4900 BC the city was abandoned. Probably after a time, the surrounding region
was deforested in the quest for firewood, overhunted, and damaged by agriculture -- a
familiar pattern. Possibly the rivers which supplied Catal Huyuk with timber, transportation,
and trade changed their course, isolating the city.
Md. Mashrur Rahman Mishu
Student,
Dept of Urban and Regional Planning,
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
Phone: 01722062970
E-mail: [email protected]