ABSTRACT
Cities are a fairly new phenomenon for our species. For most of our pre-history, people lived in nomadic bands of hunter-gatherers. Our earliest indication of a year-round settlement is a collection of small huts inhabited about 21,500 BCE by the Sea of Galilee in Israel called Ohalo II. Such settlements were rare, however, until the Neolithic Period beginning around 9500 BCE when the first agricultural villages became widespread. Humans living in the first Neolithic villages grew a variety of crops but still hunted for meat, and the first domesticated livestock—sheep and goats—did not spread until after 8500 BCE. The Neolithic village became widespread in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, but the first cities did not emerge until 3500 BCE in what is today southern Iraq.
Once cities emerged, they spread rapidly throughout the world. Cities in different regions typically developed characters distinctive of their respective countries. Chinese and Mesoamerican cities, which developed separately from Mesopotamian cities, often had similar functions (e.g., as religious centers) but reflected local cultural beliefs and architectural traditions. Cities varied over time as well, reflecting levels of technology and economic conditions.
