Cities and Civilization

Earliest urban “hearths”TurkeyMesopotamiaEgyptIndus Valley

Yellow River valley, ChinaMesoamericaAndean AmericaE. and S. Africa

3500-1500 BC

2000-1000 BC

0-1500 AD

1000-1500 AD

1000-1500 AD

Simplified version

Diffusion of urbanismBy urbanism we mean a way of life, a set of institutions, a kind of social organizationInvented various times and placesDiffused from each of these places to other places

Civi…

Civic, civilization, civilize, city, civility

These English words reflect the long association between ideas of urban life and a refinement of thought and behavior

All derive from Latin

Rulers of the Roman Empire saw city building as the way to spread civilization

What is the essence of this?Socio-spatial dialectic

People are shaped by their environmentsPeople shape their environments

By living in a “world of strangers” where people have varied roles

Individuals have the opportunity to broaden their worldview and refine their awareness of themselves and the worldKnowledge and artistic expression is developed farther than is possible in rural society

Urban culture is a distinct kind of culture wherever it occurs, although it also varies from place to placeSometimes urban culture and society is called “urbanism”

Civil-izing viewed in retrospect

Urban life does not necessarily uplift the human spiritThe city becomes a second wilderness with its own predators & preyCulture distracts and titillates us as often as it uplifts us As we adapt to “second nature” we forget about our dependence on “first nature”

What does this sculpture “tell” us?

Found in excavation of Teotihuacan

Says two things about the division of labor

Says something about cultural development

Labor specialization leads to the development of skills as varied as stone-carving and acrobatic performance

Original Social Hierarchy in City

TINY MINORITYGod-KingPriests (doubled as administrators)Technicians (e.g. surveyors, engineers)Artisans & performersMerchants

MAJORITYSubjects (mostly peasant farmers)Conquered peoplesSlaves

Purpose of the city?

The city was invented not once but many times, and served various needs

Defense against outsidersAn immediate concern of agriculturalists surrounded by pastoralists and other less sedentary peoplesDefense of property as much as of life

Ceremonial CenterMonumental architectureResidences of priests and scribesPlace for conducting periodic ceremonies and rituals

Management of resourcesCreation of irrigation systems, granaries, etc.Collection of taxes/tribute for distribution to members of the court (sometimes after sacrifice to the gods)Distribution of stored food to subjects in times of famine

Characteristics of Early Cities

Early cities emerge at different times in different places (meaning of “early” varies)

Populations ranging from a few thousand to more than 100,000, but generally in the 7,000-20,000 range

Generally have Citadel with monumental architecture (temples, palaces)

Often surrounded by a city wall

Often have some form of record-keeping

Defensive Sites

“Pueblo Bonito”Chaco Canyon, NMBuilt in stages beginning around 919 AD by the “Anasazi” people

5 stories in height along back wall, up to 600 rooms in use1000-2000 occupants?

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

Mesa Verde, Colorado

Early city or fortified village?

Largest cliff dwelling (Cliff Palace) had room for only 100-120 people

Essentially a village

Mesa Verde

Urbillum, Irbil, Erbil, Arbela, Arabilu

Under control of Sumerians, Persians, Macedonians, Ottoman Empire, Kurds & IraqSite continuously occupied for 8,000 years (underground water source)Has been a city for 4,300 years!Enormous “tell” has not yet been excavated

Defensive elements

“Protection” of Neolithic villagers may have been akin to blackmail (Lewis Mumford)

Eventually, however, the village with a hunter at the heart might grow and evict or incorporate neighboring people

The city tended toward empire from its earliest days

Assyrian conquest, 9th c. BCWomen and children celebrate outside their walled-city as the dead float byCity has always required defendingPerhaps people were not psychologically and culturally prepared for the regimentation and social stress of urban life; they took out suppressed aggression on other groups

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

Carcassonne: a medieval walled city

Old Roman foundations, new construction from 11th c. Permanent population remained small: 9,500 by 14th c.Also see virtual Carcassonne on the web at http://www.carcassonne.culture.fr/

Outer wall

Inner wall

castle

Main gate

An Intimidating Approach

Between the Walls

Mont Saint-Michel

France

Cosmo-Magical OrderPaul Wheatley argues that knowledge of weather and climate was considered part of religion, and priests or god-kings became important figures at the center of an agriculturally-based urban societyRegular “grid-iron” layout was not originally designed for practical purposesCities like Teotihuacan, Roman colonies, and China’s Forbidden City were aligned with the cardinal directions (axially) in an attempt to make them eternal and powerfulThe city, especially the citadel, was believed to be the center of the universe and axiality demonstrated that idea visually

The “Citadel”

Found in many early citiesTakes various formsA compound of grandiose structures, often walled off from rest of cityFunctioned as:

place of ceremonyhome for semi-divine leaders and their “court”storage place for food reserves

“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

PlannedAxial layout

Covered sewers

Harappan cities (artist’s conception)

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Ziggurats (Mesopotamian temples)

A place for the performance of religious ceremonies by the Mesopotamian priests, including sacrifice of animals, fruit, and even beer!

Mayan Temples

http://www.maya-art-books.org/html/New_photos.html

http://www.locogringo.com/past_spotlights/apr2002.html

Place where priests carried out ritual human sacrifices of virgins, children or prisoners before throwing down the bodies

The Forbidden City, Beijinght

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The Forbidden City, Beijing (1420 AD)

An administrative and ceremonial center off limits to ordinary Chinese

http://www.chinavista.com/beijing/gugong/!start.html

“Teotihuacan” (Mexico)

Emerged as urban center around 0 AD

Lasted for more than 600 years

Influenced most of Mesoamerica

60-80,000 inhabitants

Apartment buildings, wide avenues, huge pyramids

“Avenue of the Dead,” Teotihuacan

Architectural Detail, Teotihuacan

Karl Wittfogel’s hydraulic civilization model

Semi-arid river valleys of Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus and the Yellow River all “rewarded” irrigationTo achieve effective irrigation required coordination of crews to dig canals, clear waterways, keep track of field boundaries, etc.Cities grew in these areas because the environment enabled city building and constrained population growth in the absence of social organization

Karl Wittfogel’s hydraulic civilization model

Agricultural surplus fed non-farmers, making labor specialization possible

Tool-makersLaborersFarmers“engineers”Record keepers (scribes)Supreme leader (Pharaoh)

Did this encourage the rise of despotic leaders as part of the political culture in these area, as Wittfogel argues?

In shortThe origins of the city suggest what the city became:

A place of specialized roles, knowledge and creativityHuman endeavors from religion to engineering and everything in betweenA particular kind of culture “urbanism”

The earliest cities had elements that most cities no longer have

Defensive perimeter (wall)Citadel: religious and governmental buildings clustered togetherLayout reflecting spatial symbolism of a “cosmo-magical order”