Tyragetia (Nov 2018)
Crises and early urbanization processes in Europe
Abstract
In the second half of the 20th century, and in particular at the beginning of the 21st century, archaeological discoveries were made, unveiling when, where and why the oldest cities were emerging. For a long time it was believed that the processes of early urbanization should be studied primarily on the example of Mesopotamia, the Nile or the Indus Valleys. However, it turned out that a lot of interesting things happened in this respect in Copper or Early Bronze Ages in Old Europe, not to mention the valleys of the Yangtze River or the banks of the Mississippi River far away from the Old World. Wherever the production economy has made significant progress, people sooner or later started creating unprecedented so far large settlements – mega-sites with thousands of residents, intended to be economic, political, military, religious centers. Some of them became cities, others, for various reasons, disappeared. The appearance and decline of early urbanized structures fit into the rhythm of climatic and cultural changes. The way it happened in Old Europe between 5000-3000 BC will be discussed in this article. Archaeological investigations over the past 20 years show us that the proto-cities of Trypillia culture are part of some global event that began in Europe around 5000 BC.
