Revolutionary Technology

In writing Essay 1, students are expected to incorporate class discussions and assigned readings, when pertinent. An initial draft of the essay will be read by each student’s TA, who will provide comments and feedback on both substantive and stylistic matters. It is expected that students will use TA feedback in rewriting their essays for final submission. The essay draft is mandatory but will not be graded. Only the final, revised, version of the essay will be graded. We are looking for short polished essays that make an argument in a powerful but succinct manner.Essay 1 (ca. 800-1000 words):Please present an argument based on the following statement:“Cities are a revolutionary technology of human spatial organization that forever changed the human career.”Your answer should define what cities are, should detail broadly when and where they appear in the archaeological record of mankind, whether (or not) cities can be conceptualized as a type of technology (which presumes a particular definition of technology), and whether (or not) V. Gordon Childe’s concept of an “Urban Revolution” is an appropriate term to describe the pertinent evidence for the emergence of cities.Your essay should make use of, and incorporate, pertinent materials from class lectures and from relevant assigned class readings.