I was surprised that...

It was surprising to learn that scholars of all kinds have been arguing about the origins of civilization for a very long time—with no end in sight. There are many theories of how humankind began to “settle down” and form civilizations. “However they got started…the First Civilization, once established, represented a very different kind of human society than anything that came before. Although civilizations had their roots in the Agricultural Revolution, not all agricultural societies developed into civilizations.

What was even more surprising to me are the cities that the text describes. For example the city of Harappa, “featured large, richly built homes of two or three stories, complete with indoor plumbing, luxurious bathrooms, and private wells.” (Ways of the World, 70) To me this sounds like Real-Estate flyer featuring a home in a wealthy area of today (2020). “Even larger…was the Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan, located in the central valley of Mexico…Broad avenues dozen of temples, two huge pyramids, endless stone carvings….” (Ways of the World, 70) Sometimes I (we) forget how beautiful architecture is and how advanced it was thousands of years ago.