Out of Egypt

Today's city dwellers may think of urban living as an improvement over the existence of our hunting and gathering ancestors. But Egyptologist Dr. Kara Cooney explains that our modern tendency to live in cities isn't the result of an inevitable march towards progress. Beginning roughly 12,000 years ago, a sudden change in human behavior determined the very nature of modern civilization. And archaeological evidence from some of the world's first cities - like Jericho in the West Bank of Palestine, Catal Huyuk in Turkey, and even early prehistoric settlements in Egypt - suggests that living in cities may bring just as many problems as it solves.

Today's city dwellers may think of urban living as an improvement over the existence of our hunting and gathering ancestors. But Egyptologist Dr. Kara Cooney explains that our modern tendency to live in cities isn't the result of an inevitable march towards progress. Beginning roughly 12,000 years ago, a sudden change in human behavior determined the very nature of modern civilization. And archaeological evidence from some of the world's first cities - like Jericho in the West Bank of Palestine, Catal Huyuk in Turkey, and even early prehistoric settlements in Egypt - suggests that living in cities may bring just as many problems as it solves.

Today's city dwellers may think of urban living as an improvement over the existence of our hunting and gathering ancestors. But Egyptologist Dr. Kara Cooney explains that our modern tendency to live in cities isn't the result of an inevitable march towards progress. Beginning roughly 12,000 years ago, a sudden change in human behavior determined the very nature of modern civilization. And archaeological evidence from some of the world's first cities - like Jericho in the West Bank of Palestine, Catal Huyuk in Turkey, and even early prehistoric settlements in Egypt - suggests that living in cities may bring just as many problems as it solves.

Today's city dwellers may think of urban living as an improvement over the existence of our hunting and gathering ancestors. But Egyptologist Dr. Kara Cooney explains that our modern tendency to live in cities isn't the result of an inevitable march towards progress. Beginning roughly 12,000 years ago, a sudden change in human behavior determined the very nature of modern civilization. And archaeological evidence from some of the world's first cities - like Jericho in the West Bank of Palestine, Catal Huyuk in Turkey, and even early prehistoric settlements in Egypt - suggests that living in cities may bring just as many problems as it solves.