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Prehistoric Settlement in Turkey Bears Telltale Signs of Modern Woes

Reuters

   WASHINGTON - Overcrowding. Violence. Infectious diseases. Environmental
   degradation.

   It may sound like the worst of modern mega-cities.

   But people encountered these very same problems when the first large
   settlements were being established millennia ago as humans began to
   swap a nomadic hunter-gatherer existence for a lifestyle centered on
   farming, scientists said on Monday, based on findings from a
   prehistoric site in south-central Turkey.

   The researchers examined 742 human skeletons unearthed at the
   prehistoric ruins of Catalhoyuk, inhabited from 9,100 to 7,950 years
   ago during a pivotal time in human evolution, for clues about what life
   was like at one of the earliest sizable settlements in the
   archeological record. At its peak, 3,500 to 8,000 people lived there,
   with the researchers calling it a "proto-city."

   High rate of infections

   The residents experienced a high rate of infections, as seen in their
   teeth and bones, probably caused by diseases spreading in crowded
   conditions amid challenges to proper hygiene, the researchers said.
   Overcrowding may have contributed to interpersonal violence. Many
   skulls bore evidence of healed fractures to the top or back of the
   cranium, some with multiple injuries.

   The shape of these injuries indicates they may have been caused by hard
   clay balls found at Catalhoyuk that researchers suspect were used as
   projectiles from a sling weapon

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