Cities

Some settlements gained significant importance and population density during the Uruk period, as well as the development of monumental municipal architecture. They have progressed to the point where they can legitimately be called cities. This was accompanied by a series of social changes that resulted in what can fairly be called an urban society as opposed to the rural society that provided food for the growing portion of the population that did not feed itself, though the relationship between the two groups and the views of the time about this distinction remain difficult to discern.

Uruk's urban site significantly outnumbered all others during the Late Uruk period. Its size, the scale of its monuments, and the significance of the administrative tools discovered there all point to it being an important center of authority. As a result, it is frequently referred to as the first city, yet it was the result of a process that began several years earlier and is widely attested outside of Lower Mesopotamia (aside from the monumental aspect of Eridu).

The formation of significant proto-urban centers began in southwest Iran (Chogha Mish, Susa) at the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, particularly in the Jazirah (Tell Brak, Hamoukar, Tell al-Hawa, Grai Resh). Excavations in the latter region tend to contradict the idea that urbanization began in Mesopotamia and spread to neighboring regions; the appearance of an urban center at Tell Brak appears to have resulted from a local process involving the progressive aggregation of previously separate village communities, and without the influence of any strong central power (unlike what seems to have been the case at Uruk). Early urbanization should thus be regarded as a phenomenon that occurred concurrently in numerous locations of the Near East throughout the fourth millennium BC, though further research and excavation are required to clarify this process.