Proto-city

A proto-city is a large, dense Neolithic settlement that is largely distinguished from a city by its lack of planning and centralized rule.^[1] While the precise classification of many sites considered proto-cities is ambiguous and subject to considerable debate,^[2] common examples include Jericho, Çatalhöyük and the mega-sites of the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture.^[3][4] Sites of the Ubaid period in Mesopotamia have also been classed as proto-cities. These sites pre-date the Mesopotamian city-states of the Uruk period that mark the development of the first indisputable urban settlements, with the emergence of cities such as Uruk at the end of the Fourth Millennium, B.C.^[5]

The emergence of cities from proto-urban settlements is a non-linear development that demonstrates the varied experiences of early urbanization. Whilst the proto-urban sites of the Ubaid period in northern Mesopotamia anticipate the social and political developments of the first Sumerian cities, many proto-cities show little correlation with later urban settlements.^[5][6] The development of cities and proto-cities and the transition away from hunting and gathering toward agriculture is known as the Neolithic Revolution.