Early Urban Development in the Near East

doi:10.1126/science.1138728

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Early Urban Development in the Near East

Jason A. Ur,¹^* Philip Karsgaard,² Joan Oates³

It has been thought that the first cities in the Near East werespatially extensive and grew outward from a core nucleated villagewhile maintaining a more or less constant density in terms ofpersons or households per unit of area. The general applicabilityoutside of the Near East of this southern Mesopotamian.derivedmodel has been questioned recently, and variations from it areincreasingly recognized. We can now demonstrate that such variationwas present at the beginnings of urbanism in the Near East aswell.

¹ Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
² Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Old High School, Infirmary Street, Edinburgh EH1 1LT, UK.
³ McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jasonur{at}fas.harvard.edu

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