Over 5,000 years ago, in the scorching heart of ancient Mesopotamia, the city of Uruk rose to become the largest and most advanced settlement in the world. Home to nearly 80,000 people, it boasted ...

The story of how the first cities rose from southern Mesopotamia has long fascinated scientists and historians. Many explanations point to fertile soil, farming, and trade networks as the engines of ...

A new interdisciplinary study shows that the rise of the first urban civilization was not solely a product of human ingenuity, but a complex response to coastal dynamics and the predictable rhythms of ...