From Çatalhöyük to Ur: Humanity’s First “Apartment” Adventure and Why We Chose to Live in Crowded Conditions

When you are stuck in the metrobus or traffic in the morning, when your upstairs neighbor makes noise at midnight, or when you are overwhelmed by crowds, you probably think: "Why are we living like this? When our ancestors could freely run in the forests, why did we end up trapped in these concrete boxes?"

The answer to this question goes back thousands of years, to humanity’s "Early Age." Let us examine closely why our hunter-gatherer ancestors abandoned vast open plains and chose to live so close together—so near that they could hear each other’s breath—that is, why they chose the city.

The Abandonment of Freedom: Fear and Granaries

For thousands of years, humanity lived in nomadic groups that worked little and lived freely. Then one day, someone discovered how to sow wheat in the soil. The Agricultural Revolution (Neolithic Period) was a wonderful development, but it brought with it a major problem: accumulation.

Previously, you owned only what you could carry. But now you had tons of grain stored in granaries. You had to protect this wealth. The only way to defend yourself against wild animals—and especially against other humans—was to gather in large numbers and build walls. People gave up their freedom for security and a guaranteed food supply, establishing the first villages and then the first cities. In other words, the earliest settlements were essentially massive projects of taking shelter behind walls.^【1】 

Çatalhöyük: The City Without Streets and Entering Homes Through the Roof

In the heart of Anatolia, Çatalhöyük offers the most radical example of this cramped way of life. Imagine: thousands of people living together, but no streets! Yes, you heard correctly. The houses were built so tightly together that people entered their homes through holes in the roof, descending by ladders.

Why? Because streets meant enemies could walk freely. By attaching houses to one another, they turned the settlement into a massive fortress. What today seems claustrophobic was, for people of that time, a way to lean their backs against their neighbors and feel safe. As Ian Hodder’s research shows, this contiguous arrangement was in fact an architectural expression of complex social organization and defensive instincts.^【2】 

Uruk and Babylon: Order Born of Chaos

When we turn to Mesopotamia and its legendary Sumerian city of Uruk, things become even more complex. Here, people gathered not only for protection but to sustain a vast economy centered around temples.

A city meant chaos: thousands of people, animals, marketplaces, workshops. Yet this chaos gave rise to something extraordinary: the division of labor. In the village, everyone was a farmer. But in the city, as populations grew, some people made only pottery, others brewed only beer, and still others recorded these exchanges.

Conclusion: Why Are We Still Here?

Despite the risks of disease, noise, and stress, humanity never abandoned the city. Because the city was the place where ideas collided, innovation was born, and culture flourished. Writing, the wheel, laws, and mathematics were invented by those crowded, noisy, constantly irritated but still forced to produce together in chaotic masses. History truly began in Sumer, in these cities.^【3】 

When you feel suffocated today on the 30th floor of a shopping mall or in a crowded street, remember our ancestor at Çatalhöyük descending through the roof into his home. The story has not changed—only the scenery has become slightly more modern.