For over 60 years the accepted view of cultural evolution was that the world's first cities
developed in the Fertile Crescent in the 4th millennium BC. This view overlooks the emergence
of a much neglected class of sites-the Trypillia megasites of the Ukrainian forest-steppe. The
megasites were in fact larger and earlier than the Mesopotamian cities and demonstrate an
alternative pathway towards cities without strong central administration and any later urban
legacy. In this book a team of international authors examines the hypothesis of independent
Eastern European urbanism using the evidence gathered from the multi-disciplinary investigation
of the megasite of Nebelivka.
