Question

Explain how human settlements have evolved

Answer 1

In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people live. A settlement can range in size from a small number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of cities with surrounding urbanized areas. Settlements may include hamlets, villages, towns and cities. A settlement may have known historical properties such as the date or era in which it was first settled, or first settled by a particular people.

In the field of geospatial predictive modeling, settlements are "a city, town, village ghost or other agglomeration of buildings where people live and work."[1]

A settlement conventionally includes its constructed facilities such as roads, enclosures, field systems, boundary banks and ditches, ponds, parks and woods, windand water mills, manor houses, moats and churches.[2]

The oldest remains that have been found of constructed dwellings are remains of huts that were made of mud and branches around 17,000 BC at the Ohalo site (now underwater) near the edge of the Sea of Galilee. The Natufians built houses, also in the Levant, around 10,000 BC. Remains of settlements such as villages become much more common after the invention of agriculture.

Answer 2

Human settlements owe their evolution to contemporary social settings from period to period. The following are the stages of evolution of human settlements:

• During the early prehistoric period, humans moved from places to places in search of food. Thus, they did not have permanent settlements. They preferred taking shelter in caves and dens to protect themselves.
• Later in time, humans learned the technique of cultivating and growing their own food. With this ability at hands, humans preferred staying in one place and practiced agriculture. This was the stage in which humans started establishing permanent settlements. These settlements were majorly on the banks of rivers.
• Owing to the vulnerability of seasonal changes, humans developed the art of building strong and permanent shelters that could resist the external natural forces.
• These settlements started becoming denser as more number of people started living together in larger groups.
• Later, humans planned and settled civilizations like Mesopotamia and Mohenjo-daro.
• These civilizations acted as examples of town-planning which helped in the settlements of modern-day villages and cities.