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A Companion to Urban Economics - Arnott and McMillen - Chapter 3

C H A P T E R T H R E E The First Cities 3.1 INTRODUCTION This essay explores the origins of the world’s first cities, which evolved in different parts of Southwest Asia. The city of Jericho developed in the Jordan Valley in the eighth millennium BC, with a population of about 2,000. | A Companion to Urban Economics Edited by Richard J. Arnott Daniel P. McMillen Copyright 2006 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd I CHAPTER THREE The First Cities Arthur O Sullivan 3.1 Introduction This essay explores the origins of the world s first cities which evolved in different parts of Southwest Asia. The city of Jericho developed in the Jordan Valley in the eighth millennium BC with a population of about 2 000. Jericho had formidable fortifications suggesting that it had accumulated wealth and was targeted by raiders. About one millennium later Çatalhoyük or Çatal Hüyük developed in present-day Turkey with a population of about 5 000. The city produced obsidian tools and other craft products and may have served as a regional trading center. In the second half of the fourth millennium BC Uruk developed in southern Mesopotamia in present-day Iraq with a population of about 50 000. The central religious organization was the dominant force in the economy producing a wide variety of private goods such as barley cloth and pottery. The offerings to the 2 400 gods doubled as payments to the managers of temple enterprises. Our knowledge of the economic features of these cities is derived from the material that city residents left behind. Archaeologists have excavated the piles of rubble that used to be cities uncovering city walls buildings household implements tools of craft fabrication and religious objects. In the case of Uruk archaeologists have also discovered clay tablets with primitive forms of writing. In trying to piece together these bits of information to form a picture of life in the first cities we must be careful not to jump to conclusions but instead recognize the speculative nature of any conjectures. In this essay I will try to avoid the trap that has ensnared many scholars including one who was not always able to control his imagination and his weakness for paradoxes. Given our limited knowledge about these early cities many puzzles remain. In addition .