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AT-1607

Michael E. Smith, “V. Gordon Childe and the Urban Revolution” (2009)

DOI · Critical / corrective research

verifiedRetraction / correction review1 usage record

Source record

This is one canonical bibliographic record with topic-scoped research-use entries. It does not reproduce the paper, book, text, dataset, image, or manuscript and does not imply that full text was reviewed.
Canonical source ID
AT-1607
Accepted usage IDs
AT-1607
Types
DOI
Roles
Critical / corrective research
Verification
verified
Archive state
unavailable-through-registered-public-or-tdm-routes
Access
unavailable-through-registered-public-or-tdm-routes
Rights
not identified; not cleared
Public reproduction
Not cleared; citation and link only.
Correction / retraction
no retraction flag in checked Crossref/OpenAlex metadata

Recorded research uses

AT-1607

Rise of Cities

Why Connected Atlas uses this citation here

Corrective historical reassessment of Childe’s criteria and their modern use

What this usage does not establish

Bibliographic verification does not by itself establish that the full text was read.
Open topic

Topics citing it and claims using it

Supporting citation for public claim

The result depends on how “city” is defined.

Answer / theory: Uruk is often called the first true city, but Jericho, Çatalhöyük, Tell Brak, and other sites complicate the answer. The result depends on how “city” is defined. Evidence level: Mixed Evidence.
Open claim topic
Supporting citation for public claim

The represented urban models are multicausal, combining institutions, surplus, specialization, exchange, households, and political organization rather than making temples a sole cause.

Answer / theory: Temples and ritual institutions were important in Mesopotamia, but urbanism also depended on agriculture, exchange, labor, households, and political authority. Evidence level: Plausible but incomplete.
Open claim topic
Supporting citation for public claim

Writing is not a necessary universal criterion for urbanism.

Answer / theory: No. Writing helped manage some cities, but urban-like societies could exist without known writing. Evidence level: Strong Evidence.
Open claim topic
Limiting / critical citation for public claim

Uruk is a major early urban case, but the catalog does not establish it as the absolute first city; criteria and regional comparison affect that label.

The evidence does not automatically support broader causal, technological, transmission, or literalizing claims beyond the cited record.
Open claim topic
Limiting / critical citation for public claim

Tell Brak evidence and modern reassessment complicate any exclusive Uruk-first narrative; “first true city” depends on the criteria used.

The evidence does not automatically support broader causal, technological, transmission, or literalizing claims beyond the cited record.
Open claim topic
Limiting / critical citation for public claim

The catalog documents distinct urban trajectories in northern Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Upper Amazon rather than one universal causal formula.

The evidence does not automatically support broader causal, technological, transmission, or literalizing claims beyond the cited record.
Open claim topic

Access and actions

Michael E. Smith, “V. Gordon Childe and the Urban Revolution” (2009)

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