“Out of Eden” was the name of an article by Andrew Lawler, in the December/09 issue of Discover magazine (pg 64-68). It concerned a newly discovered (August of 2006) ancient city in Syria, which apparently was nearly the size of Uruk. The city was located here at least 3,000 years, but was abandoned about 1200 bc. At its peak (3900 to 3400), its population may have been about 20,000 people. It was located near the ancient city of Nagar or Tell Brak. The archeologist in charge of digs in the area was an 81 year old lady named Joan Oates. When she and her crew returned to the site (Nagar and Tell Brak), they were very distressed to see that somebody had used a backhoe in the area, without permission, while the archeology crew was gone for the season. She sent a couple of her crew down to check on what kind of damage had been done, and they feel through from the backhoe scar into a mass grave, containing over a hundred skeletons. Because the skeletons were treated with considerable lack of respect, it was assumed to have been a huge battle or a mass murder. They were nearly 6 millennia old (3800 bc).

Looking further into the area, they found large buildings nearby, from the same period, and considerably older than Nagar. There were extensive workshops, fancy tableware, and imported materials – flint and obsidian from Turkey, bitumen from eastern Iraq or Turkey, and gemstones including jasper, marble, serpentine, diorite, and mother-of-pearl. This inspired the author, Andrew Lawler, to refer to this site as “...our best and oldest evidence of early urban life.” Being just an amateur at this, I don't understand why Catal Hoyuk and Jericho don't qualify for this honor. Maybe they aren't yet considered 'urban'.

The theory is put forward that mankind began fighting with large armies almost as soon as we began living in cities large enough to gather these armies from. It seems to me that the intra-tribal warfare in North America supports that idea. Near the end of the article, Lawler says, “Violence and cultural sophistication may in fact have gone hand in hand in creating the first urban societies.”