MODULE 1

ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF

HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
 MODULE 1
Syllabus

Origin and evolution of human settlements- Relevance of

study of evolution of human settlements- human
settlements as an expression of civilization – town planning
in ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, Renaissance and
Industrial and Post Industrial period
Human settlements is an expression of
civilization
History of Human Settlements
• Dawn of human civilization – end of Barbaric age
• Man started to settle instead of leading nomadic life

A barbarian is a human who is perceived to be

either uncivilized or primitive.

• Historically natural factors were mostly controlling growth

and development of settlements
 History of Human Settlements
SUFFERED
FROM VARIOUS
BENEFITTED
ILL EFFECTS OF
FROM MOTHER
VARIOUS
EARTH
NATURAL
CALAMITIES

SOCIETY

Invented different ways and means to meet various levels of need like
physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem and self actualization
 History of Human Settlements
Ancient phase
(12,000 B.C. – 3,000 B.C.)

Broadly classified Intermediate phase or Medieval Phase

into 3 phases: ( 3,000 B.C. – 1,500 A.D.)

Modern Phase or Organizational Phase

(1,500 A.D. – till date)
 History of Human Settlements
ANCIENT PHASE

Human settlement started in Central and South Asia

Valleys of the Euprates, the Tigris and the Indus

Sumerian civilization Indus Valley civilization

Even prior to that, historians claim the existence of Vedic civilization in

Indian sub-continent, which have been dated back to pre Harappan period
 History of Human Settlements
MEDIEVAL PHASE OR INTERRMEDIATE PHASE

Predominance of settlement was observed in Europe

•Initial centuries witnessed the growth of Greek and Roman civilization

•Spread of Islam culture in some parts of Europe and Asia
•The Renaissance or re-birth, an idea originating in Italy, which shook half
the globe, was a result of the medieval period and it created the podium for
the Modern Age
 History of Human Settlements
MODERN PHASE OR ORGANIZATIONAL PHASE

Experienced a farther westward shift of the predominance with the decline

of British Imperial power and rise of America

•Industrial revolution created a shockwave – new concepts of planning and

development
• At present – formation of Asian Megalopolis with the immense
technological advancement
FAVOURABLE LOCATIONS FOR
SETTLEMENTS
• Favourable environment for human existence and
survival
• Climate not very harsh
• Epidemics not very frequent
• Land fertile
• Good quality of water available in plenty
• River valleys as popular places for settled habitation
Periodization
Pre- and protohistory
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (10,000–8700 BC)
Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (8700–6800)
Hassuna (~6000 BC–? BC), Samarra (~5700–4900 BC)
and Halaf cultures (~6000–5300 BC) cultures
Ubaid period (~5900–4400 BC)
Uruk period (~4400–3100 BC)
Jemdet Nasr period (~3100–2900 BC)[13]
Early Bronze Age
Early Dynastic period (~2900–2350 BC)
Akkadian Empire (~2350–2100 BC)
Third Dynasty of Ur (2112–2004 BC)
Early Assyrian kingdom (24th to 18th century BC)
Middle Bronze Age
Early Babylonia (19th to 18th century BC)
First Babylonian Dynasty (18th to 17th century BC)
Minoan eruption (c. 1620 BC)
Late Bronze Age
Old Assyrian period (16th to 11th century BC)
Middle Assyrian period (c. 1365–1076 BC)
Kassites in Babylon, (c. 1595–1155 BC)
Late Bronze Age collapse (12th to 11th century BC)
Iron Age
Syro-Hittite states (11th to 7th century BC)
Neo-Assyrian Empire (10th to 7th century BC)
Neo-Babylonian Empire (7th to 6th century BC)
Classical antiquity
Persian Babylonia, Achaemenid Assyria (6th to 4th
century BC)
Seleucid Mesopotamia (4th to 3rd century BC)
Parthian Babylonia (3rd century BC to 3rd century AD)
Osroene (2nd century BC to 3rd century AD)
Adiabene (1st to 2nd century AD)
Hatra (1st to 2nd century AD)
Roman Mesopotamia (2nd to 7th centuries AD), Roman
Assyria (2nd century AD)
Late Antiquity
Palmyrene Empire (3nd century AD)
Asōristān (3rd to 7th century AD)
Euphratensis (mid-4th century AD to 7th century AD)
Muslim conquest (mid-7th century AD)
PRE-HISTORIC PERIOD
LEARN FROM YESTERDAY TO BETTER
TODAY FOR A BETTER TOMORROW
• Primitive man : caves , tree holes treetops

• Fed himself on plants, animals and water

Much effort
from his side
 PRE-HISTORIC PERIOD
Nomad or Ape-man – million years ago moved around or concentrated
in area that offered favourable or less hostile environment to settle

Gradually culture started with the discovery of agriculture and started

settling

3 ages of man

Man and his Period of Barbarism Civilization started

appearance developing communities, with technology,
as hunter out of which culture skill and formation
started of social systems
Mesopotamian Civilization

Mesopotamia was the

world’s first civilization

Mesopotamian Civilization –
“The cradle of civilizations”
• Mesopotamian civilizations formed on the banks of the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers

• Early civilizations began to form around the time of the

Neolithic Revolution—12000 BCE.

• Some of the major Mesopotamian civilizations include

the Sumerian, Assyrian, Akkadian, and Babylonian
civilizations.

• Evidence shows extensive use of technology, literature,

legal codes, philosophy, religion, and architecture in
these societies.
 Mesopotamian Civilization

https://www.slideshare.net/patricehigh/mesopotamia-power-point
Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
 Mesopotamian Civilization –
The fertile crescent

• In the spring, the rivers often flooded,

leaving behind rich soil for farming. The
problem was that the flooding was very
unpredictable. It might flood one year, but
not the next. Every year, farmers worried
about their crops.
 Mesopotamian Civilization –
Irrigation

• Over time, the farmers learned to build dams and

channels to control the seasonal floods. They
also built walls, waterways, and ditches to
bring water to their fields. This way of
watering crops is called irrigation. Irrigation
allowed the farmers to grow plenty of food and
support a large population.
Mesopotamian Civilization
Irrigation
 Mesopotamian Civilization –
Irrigation

• Over time, the farmers learned to build dams and

channels to control the seasonal floods. They
also built walls, waterways, and ditches to
bring water to their fields. This way of
watering crops is called irrigation. Irrigation
allowed the farmers to grow plenty of food and
support a large population.
Mesopotamia- SETTELEMENT LAYOUT
IN UR CITY (SUMERIAN CITY)
Mesopotamian Various activities inside
Residential area
Mesopotamian Planning Concepts
UR CITY 2019(IRAQ)- GOOGLE MAPS
Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
GREEK CIVILIZATION
GREEK CIVILIZATION
GREEK CIVILIZATION
ACCROPOLIS - ATHENS
GREEK CIVILIZATION
ACCROPOLIS - ATHENS
GREEK CIVILIZATION
ROMAN CIVILIZATION
ROMAN CIVILIZATION
Assignment

• Greeks had philosophy and Romans were

advanced in technology. Explain how
these influenced in planning cities of
ancient Greece and Roman Empire
REFERENCES
https://www.slideshare.net/gayathriselvasegar/human-settlements-78787732

REFERENCE NOTES
PREHISTORIC AND ROMAN SETTLEMENT
• The occupation of Britain by modern humans (Homo
sapiens) began before the last ice age (c.68,000–8,000 BC),
but the first distinctive signs of prehistoric settlement
date from c.12,000 BC in a period known by
archaeologists as the Upper Palaeolithic. Humans
lived by hunting and gathering, fashioning tools from flint,
antler, bone, and mammoth ivory. They sheltered in caves,
occasionally decorating their walls with art. The nomadic
lifestyle continued into the Mesolithic period
(c.8,000–4,000 BC), when flint tools became
progressively smaller and more refined. The recent discovery
of a circular building at Howick in Northumberland dating
from c.7,600 BC may suggest that peripatetic settlement was
giving way to seasonal or even permanent occupation during
the Mesolithic.
 PREHISTORIC AND ROMAN SETTLEMENT
• The Neolithic period (c.4,000–2,500 BC) saw the
introduction of farming to the British Isles and with it came a
more sedentary way of life. Woodland was increasingly cleared
to make way for cereal cultivation and animal herds.
Communities expressed their identity and beliefs through the
construction of funerary and ceremonial monuments in the
landscape. The process of establishing farms and fields
continued during the Bronze Age (c.2,500–800 BC),
when settlements typically comprised round houses
constructed of stone or timber. During the Iron Age (c.800
BC–AD 43) settlements were increasingly enclosed as
pressure on land increased and land ownership became
important. By 500 BC many communities chose to live in
enclosed hilltop settlements known as hillforts, where
significant numbers of round houses were contained within
massive earthwork circuits of banks and ditches.
 PREHISTORIC AND ROMAN SETTLEMENT
• The period of Roman rule in Britain (c.AD 43–410) began with
the construction of forts by the Roman army, some of which
spawned the development of Roman towns, such as Gloucester
and Exeter. Britain’s new urban settlements contained public
buildings and often had a grid-iron street plan. In the
countryside villages and small towns sprang up alongside
Roman roads and Iron Age round houses were often replaced
with rectangular timber-framed or masonry dwellings. The
larger houses, known as villas, frequently contained mosaic
floors, painted walls, and under-floor heating. Villas became
increasingly elaborate as the Roman period wore on, but
from c.350 both towns and villas saw a marked decline in their
fortunes, often culminating in partial or total abandonment in
the 5th century.