Question 1. Explain the concept of urban revolution.

Answer - Introduction

Urban revolution refers to the historic transition of small agricultural societies into large urban societies. It was coined by Australian archaeologist V. Gordon Childe in his 1936 book Man Makes Himself.

Arguably the most important contribution of archeology to scientific study is the documentation of sociocultural evolution. V. Gordon Childe was renowned as the most important archaeologist of the 20th Century because of his description of the Neolithic revolution and urban revolution. For the first time, a social model was developed to interpret the past, shedding light on the transformation of our species socially, not biologically

Childe coined both the terms “Neolithic Revolution” and “Urban Revolution” which each represent key landmarks in our species. The first describes the change from hunter-gathering to localised agriculture, an important differentiator of our species. The surplus of produce in turn leads to the freedom of time and specialisation that eventually created the first proto-cities. In turn, cities enable the socially complex engines of commerce, innovation, art and change.

Concept of urban revolution

The Urban Revolution, completely transformed social institutions and practices. The first cities came into being during this phase, alongside an expansion in economic activities, growing social stratification and coming up of new institutions of governance and rule. For Childe, cities were not the only component due to which these complex societies came into existence. However, they were definitely the most important one. The earliest cities and states arose in the regions of Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India, Mesoamerica and the Andes. Interestingly, they evolved out of much simpler societies, with little or no external influence

Requirements:

Childe’s model is often erroneously described as a checklist for distinguishing cities from other settlements, but in fact it is a broader sociological schema for the advancement of a society to a higher form of civilisation. Therefore, it is useful to consider it for:

• an archaeological analysis of ancient cities,
• as a useful set of indicators and emergent phenomena from a functioning city.

Mechanics:

The list below is an augmented set of points from Childe’s original 1950 paper. They have been reordered and grouped. The principal theme underlying it is the evidence of a resource surplus which leads to social transformation:

Physical:

1. Size and density - a clear separator from rural areas is both the density of the built environment and the scale in circumference compared to villages.
2. Construction of monuments - public and audacious displays of power through exceptional and unique buildings.

Economic:

1. Concentration of surplus and taxation - whether by money tax or in-kind, the state builds up a resource base for emergencies or investment, as do households in the form of savings or small businesses.
2. Full-time specialisation of labour - while villages are primarily agrarian, cities exhibit extraordinary diversity in industry and incredible specificity in labour force skills - both of which are socially rewarded.
3. Exchange expanded beyond the city - trade routes are common as the surplus developed above is spent on acquiring further goods and services.
4. State Organisation - the concept of “citizenship” based on residence not kinship.
5. Class structured society - civil leaders absorb a significant share of the surplus without performing the work, and in addition, they often direct the expenditure of the surplus on other aspects of the city.

Intellectual:

1. Highly developed art forms - “art for the sake of art” develops through excess, as does complexity in form, fashion and medium.
2. Writing - movement from agrarian society to more complex interaction requires significant mathematical and literary scripts.
3. Arithmetic, geometry and astronomy develop as rational thinking techniques

Limits:

1. Ancient civilisations are a well - studied area by archaeologists. As a result, there have been a number of criticisms and alternatives for the “classic” characteristics of civilisations.
2. One set of criticisms is to be expected - it deals with the general applicability of Childe’s criteria to other ancient civilisations, where it struggles to encompass Native Americans, Australian Aboriginals and Pacific Islanders which did not have all of these components.
3. Another more foundational criticism cites that civilisations, like all emergent properties, cannot be easily identified by checking components off a list: they are more than the sum of their parts. This is a highly subjective delineation however of what constitutes a “civilisation”.

Conclusion

The urban revolution ushered in a new era of population growth, complex urban development, and the development of such institutions as the bureaucratic state, warfare, architecture, and writing

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