elements of demographic, socio-cultural and historical evolution of human settlements
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archaeological certainty is dated to around 75 B.C.26. The development of the urbanization process was accompanied by the abandonment of the surrounding countryside: this was a first example of migration from rural to urban areas, linked to the social and political context of Sumerian society. There are two probable explanations for this change, both related to the social and political context of the society of the time. Uruk, like other more or less contemporary Sumerian cities, fulfilled not only political and military functions, but also economic and religious ones. These small city-states were centers of handicraft production, and hosted temples in which the population could worship their gods, attracting the mobility of local and regional peoples. These were complex cities for their time, with highly developed support systems and technologies, especially with regard to the management of the precious waters of the Eufrates, diverted and canalized for surprisingly modern port and commercial activities, showing that the intelligence of the city is not an exclusive characteristic of the 21st century. The land of two kingdoms: the Nile Valley In Egypt’s Nile Valley, the cultural leap from nomadism to a settled and organised civilisation took place in the predynastic period, most likely coinciding with the period of the so-called Badarian culture27. The first direct evidence Watkins, L. J., Snyder D. A. 2003, The Digital Hammurabi Project, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimora, p. 2. 27 This period of the Egyptian Neolithic is named after an archaeological site, first identified at El-Badari, in the Governorate of Asyut, thanks to 26
