Why Did Humans Invent Cities?
video description
The perceived downside of specialization -- people with none of the needed skills inevitably become the lower class and are compelled to take on menial, low/no-skill tasks under the supervision of those with the skills, unless or until they learn a needed skill. We see this concept manifesting itself all around us, but in modern cities we make excuses for the unskilled and prop them up with unearned housing, food, etc. Ancient cities could never have survived doing that, and modern ones are only doing it through debt. It's a cycle that must end.
Date: 2023-03-19
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Comments and reviews: 14
pongop
I was so excited at the title and the video delivered! This is one of your best videos of all time! I appreciate it as a history/social science teacher. This is a great, brief overview! I may actually use it in class. It fits in perfectly with my World History units at the start of year. I love the Simpsons reference! I wasn't aware of ancient cities in Malaysia and Myanmar, so that's awesome to know. Great points about the problems with cities, civilization, hierarchy, private property, and inequality. The thought occurs that humans were developing beer around the same time as cities, social hierarchy, and inequality, and beer is great at dumbing people down and keeping them in line. In Mesopotamia, the government gave people beer rations. Intriguing.
The timing and content--about humans' shift from villages to cities and the accompanying change from circular cities to rectilineal cities--is especially interesting to me right now. I just watched an amazing video about how to turn a standard neighborhood into a village (rectilineal to circular. Folks are seeing the disadvantages of cities and wanting to benefit from the advantages of villages.
Anyway, amazing stuff!
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I was so excited at the title and the video delivered! This is one of your best videos of all time! I appreciate it as a history/social science teacher. This is a great, brief overview! I may actually use it in class. It fits in perfectly with my World History units at the start of year. I love the Simpsons reference! I wasn't aware of ancient cities in Malaysia and Myanmar, so that's awesome to know. Great points about the problems with cities, civilization, hierarchy, private property, and inequality. The thought occurs that humans were developing beer around the same time as cities, social hierarchy, and inequality, and beer is great at dumbing people down and keeping them in line. In Mesopotamia, the government gave people beer rations. Intriguing.
The timing and content--about humans' shift from villages to cities and the accompanying change from circular cities to rectilineal cities--is especially interesting to me right now. I just watched an amazing video about how to turn a standard neighborhood into a village (rectilineal to circular. Folks are seeing the disadvantages of cities and wanting to benefit from the advantages of villages.
Anyway, amazing stuff!
reply
Ashley
I never found cities for religious reasons to be a compelling point for why an ancient city may have existed. I like to think that neolithic humans could be just as rational as modern humans, just didn't have the knowledge base built that we do today. Of course, urban legends form, and perhaps those legends become the foundations for religions of those places. As such, I also think that there are many sites that archaeologists go This was for religion. because they can't seem to find a better explanation. For example, Stonehenge and its relatives have been a pet peeve of mine for quite some time. They fit some great criteria for what people of the time period may need in a town, and there's a precedent for self contained towns in round structures, from the Yanomami tribal houses to the Chinese tulou. However the henges and the like tend to be very near or even in floodplains, and have trenches and walls, which in a time before horsecarts and proper roads, would make them excellent refuge for an agricultural society.
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I never found cities for religious reasons to be a compelling point for why an ancient city may have existed. I like to think that neolithic humans could be just as rational as modern humans, just didn't have the knowledge base built that we do today. Of course, urban legends form, and perhaps those legends become the foundations for religions of those places. As such, I also think that there are many sites that archaeologists go This was for religion. because they can't seem to find a better explanation. For example, Stonehenge and its relatives have been a pet peeve of mine for quite some time. They fit some great criteria for what people of the time period may need in a town, and there's a precedent for self contained towns in round structures, from the Yanomami tribal houses to the Chinese tulou. However the henges and the like tend to be very near or even in floodplains, and have trenches and walls, which in a time before horsecarts and proper roads, would make them excellent refuge for an agricultural society.
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silver965
I imagine the early proto-cities, despite having worse living outcomes, were probably still attractive because they offered 2 things the hunter-gatherer life didn't offer as well: A sure food supply and Security.
Those were probably viewed as the two chief concerns of early humans, all other factors being less important. A life spent hunting and gathering may have surely been more nutritious IF one was able to hunt and gather a sufficient amount.
And considering a small group of 100 people needed 500 square miles, cities probably also offered a way forward for cooperation and safety for multiple groups. An acre of land, if growing barley, could feed about 6 people per year with a mediocre harvest. 500 square miles has 320, 000 acres on it. It was just a better deal on the whole.
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I imagine the early proto-cities, despite having worse living outcomes, were probably still attractive because they offered 2 things the hunter-gatherer life didn't offer as well: A sure food supply and Security.
Those were probably viewed as the two chief concerns of early humans, all other factors being less important. A life spent hunting and gathering may have surely been more nutritious IF one was able to hunt and gather a sufficient amount.
And considering a small group of 100 people needed 500 square miles, cities probably also offered a way forward for cooperation and safety for multiple groups. An acre of land, if growing barley, could feed about 6 people per year with a mediocre harvest. 500 square miles has 320, 000 acres on it. It was just a better deal on the whole.
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Kyle
With all due respect, I'm all for you supporting yourself through a career path educating us on the subject of Urbanism and Urban History. However, I've taken notice of the fact that your videos have increasingly become more focused on the sponsorship plugs, as opposed to the video topic. Very much as if the video was purely made as an advertisement wrapped in an excuse.
When someone clicks into a video of yours for the first time and they are greeted with far more passion behind a plug than the topic they are supposedly learning about, there's a problem. It's almost in the same vain as making a city more and more car-centric, as opposed to one built for people. I've seen you do better, Dave, and this guilt-tripping into signing up for Nebula isn't it.
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With all due respect, I'm all for you supporting yourself through a career path educating us on the subject of Urbanism and Urban History. However, I've taken notice of the fact that your videos have increasingly become more focused on the sponsorship plugs, as opposed to the video topic. Very much as if the video was purely made as an advertisement wrapped in an excuse.
When someone clicks into a video of yours for the first time and they are greeted with far more passion behind a plug than the topic they are supposedly learning about, there's a problem. It's almost in the same vain as making a city more and more car-centric, as opposed to one built for people. I've seen you do better, Dave, and this guilt-tripping into signing up for Nebula isn't it.
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Doom
1: 04 beer and sedentary lifestyles actually make perfect sense together. Municipal-level water purification is a very recent development in human history. Before that, drinking water from an unknown source carried a serious risk of diseases like dysentery. It's one thing to be a nomad and drink from water sources that don't get a lot of use/pollution. It's another thing entirely to try and drink water that came from the ground just a few dozen paces from the hole where someone else put their sewage. The alcohol in beer makes that second option much safer.
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1: 04 beer and sedentary lifestyles actually make perfect sense together. Municipal-level water purification is a very recent development in human history. Before that, drinking water from an unknown source carried a serious risk of diseases like dysentery. It's one thing to be a nomad and drink from water sources that don't get a lot of use/pollution. It's another thing entirely to try and drink water that came from the ground just a few dozen paces from the hole where someone else put their sewage. The alcohol in beer makes that second option much safer.
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CelestialCrab
I would say that there is a major difference between a town and a city. A town, although there may be many people who have settled there, does not necessarily do much other than f. ex agriculture, while a city is a distribution point for all necessary goods. In a modern city, such necessities would be food, clothing, furniture, tools, utensils, electronics, etc. As of now, I don't think of where I live as a city, because I sometimes have to travel to other places to get what I need.
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I would say that there is a major difference between a town and a city. A town, although there may be many people who have settled there, does not necessarily do much other than f. ex agriculture, while a city is a distribution point for all necessary goods. In a modern city, such necessities would be food, clothing, furniture, tools, utensils, electronics, etc. As of now, I don't think of where I live as a city, because I sometimes have to travel to other places to get what I need.
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rjh00
Okay, the Nebula plugs in this video were quite annoying, Almost as if the video was made just to advertise Nebula. Tell you what, tell them to add comments on Nebula and I will join, honestly that's the only thing preventing me from joining it. These videos lose something when you can't have discussions about the topics they cover with other people.
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Okay, the Nebula plugs in this video were quite annoying, Almost as if the video was made just to advertise Nebula. Tell you what, tell them to add comments on Nebula and I will join, honestly that's the only thing preventing me from joining it. These videos lose something when you can't have discussions about the topics they cover with other people.
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Lenard
Did settlement create inequality? Or inequality create settlement? If I were that era s 1% I d probably want to further bolster my position with wealth accumulation and have my household staff nearby. Staff needs shelter too. Then there may be spin-off economic supports, farmers and craftsmen not directly employed in my household.
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Did settlement create inequality? Or inequality create settlement? If I were that era s 1% I d probably want to further bolster my position with wealth accumulation and have my household staff nearby. Staff needs shelter too. Then there may be spin-off economic supports, farmers and craftsmen not directly employed in my household.
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Arron
Atlantis is the oldest known city in the world, buried under mountains of sand. Just not rediscovered because people think it's under water rather than under sand.
Before that there are an unknown amount of cities because any that existed during the last warming cycle got froze over.
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Atlantis is the oldest known city in the world, buried under mountains of sand. Just not rediscovered because people think it's under water rather than under sand.
Before that there are an unknown amount of cities because any that existed during the last warming cycle got froze over.
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Derek
6: 25 contrary to some beliefs, this concept did not start with those greedy republicans, none the less evil America. This crap has been around since the beginning. Injustices and inequality didn't first appear with the creation of America's two party system. It's a human thing.
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6: 25 contrary to some beliefs, this concept did not start with those greedy republicans, none the less evil America. This crap has been around since the beginning. Injustices and inequality didn't first appear with the creation of America's two party system. It's a human thing.
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Danner
I don't understand, maybe I missed it. Why did cities exist before agriculture was invented? Edit: you said that Jericho was founded as early as 12, 000 BC and that agriculture was invented around 10, 000 BC. It seems like the invention of cities predates agriculture?
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I don't understand, maybe I missed it. Why did cities exist before agriculture was invented? Edit: you said that Jericho was founded as early as 12, 000 BC and that agriculture was invented around 10, 000 BC. It seems like the invention of cities predates agriculture?
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Lenard
Shared defence. If there was conflict between hunter/gatherer groups then the one with the best fortifications is going to win. Also division of labour and specialization that could include weapons makers and semi-professional soldiers.
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Shared defence. If there was conflict between hunter/gatherer groups then the one with the best fortifications is going to win. Also division of labour and specialization that could include weapons makers and semi-professional soldiers.
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The
I get that CityBeautiful has to pay the bills somehow, but his videos have basically become giant ads for Nebula. No doubt that the exclusive videos must be pretty good, but the promotion has become too annoying.
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I get that CityBeautiful has to pay the bills somehow, but his videos have basically become giant ads for Nebula. No doubt that the exclusive videos must be pretty good, but the promotion has become too annoying.
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synscient
A lot of ideas regarding the birth of cities, property, human rights, and agriculture are challenged by the book The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow. Definitely worth the read.
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A lot of ideas regarding the birth of cities, property, human rights, and agriculture are challenged by the book The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow. Definitely worth the read.
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