World’s oldest city was not in Mesopotamia: 6,000-year-old sites challenge history

Recent archaeological discoveries are rewriting the narrative of human history. Contrary to long-held beliefs that the first cities emerged in Mesopotamia or West Asia, new evidence suggests that these ancient urban centres may have actually originated in Ukraine!

In a recent publication by the Swiss Neue Zürcher Zeitung, researchers have described the astonishing remnants of what might have been “the largest city in the world” discernible today only through aerial shadows and scattered pottery shards. This site in Ukraine dates back to 4000 BCE, making it the oldest urban settlement ever discovered.

Not only does this archaeological research push the origins of cities further back in time, but also, according to Euromaidan Press, “sparks heated debates about early social organisation, sustainability, and what a city even is”.

The Oldest Cities On Earth
Joseph Müller, an Archaeologist from the University of Kiel, began researching these giant settlements in Ukraine in 2011, building upon foundational research from the 1960s. It was a military topographer who first identified over 250 sites, featuring intriguing vegetation patterns, such as concentric formations, hinting strongly at human construction.

However, it was not until the 1970s that Ukrainian scientists, as reported by NZZ, launched a research campaign that required creative strategy as excavating a site of that size proved to be cumbersome and unfeasible. By employing geomagnetic techniques, researchers unveiled structures beneath the Earth’s surface, discovering Trypillia megasites that span over 100 hectares.

These findings challenge previous assumptions that placed urbanisation later in human history. The Ukrainian settlements suggest that numerous dwellings – and by extension, cities – existed between the end of the Stone Age and the emergence of the Bronze Age. It changes everything archaeologists thought they knew. Humans might have built cities before we even thought it was possible.

The Trypillia megasites, recognised as the earliest planned cities, had nothing in common with modern-day urban centres. According to U-krane, they were circular or oval, with houses organised in concentric rings, interrupted by boulevards or wide corridors. “These are the first planned cities of humanity,” reported NZZ, noting that the most remarkable site surpasses the size of Monaco and is comparable to Central Park.

Evidence leads researchers to believe that the houses were made of wood and clay, and might have been burned down in an ancient conflict. Interestingly enough, however, no grave sites have been found. “Individual graves are something with which the group of burying people represents their role to others. This reflection of social structures does not exist here,” said Müller. He added: “If there are no graves marked in an archaeologist-friendly way, that does not mean that a cult of the dead did not exist.”

A Society Steeped In Mystery
In the end, these sites leave archaeologists with more questions than answers! Most intriguingly, what drove these ancient people to congregate in such substantial urban hubs rather than remaining in smaller communities?

The nature of the society that built and inhabited these megasites is a subject of intense debate among archaeologists, as per Euromaidan Press, but it disappeared around 3,600 BCE for mysterious reasons.

As of right now, a strange gap in time still exists between these megasites’ timeline and the next major city in Ukraine. The question arises here: What happened in the span of 3,000 years? “Even if they are now just a shadow in a cornfield, the Trypillya megasites and their social order were a successful model for a long time. Now we just need to know which order it was,” stated U-krane.

Interesting Engineering published this article on September 7, 2024. Read the original article.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das