> [!info] Metadata > * publication:: [[The Iceberg]] > * related:: [[2021-11-15 Islanders]] > * link:: [settlements](https://newsletter.eleanorkonik.com/settlements/) %% ( [[2021-05-31 Settlements]] ) %% > I'm still working on that short story where the protagonists are going to escape from the control of a corrupt priesthood to found a colony, so I did a little digging into foundation stories and quirky historic settlements for inspiration. ## Fun Facts - Rafts are usually superior to canoes for crossing open water because they can be big enough to carry lots of supplies and enough people to found a viable settlement. %% [[pros and cons of rafts]] %% - The Aztecs built Tenochtitlán on an island in the middle of the lake, apparently because of a [directive from the god of war](https://www.livescience.com/34660-tenochtitlan.html). - By contrast, [the Venetians](http://www.localhistories.org/venice.html) fled into the lagoon, building villages on the islands, due to fear of marauders. %% [[Tenochtitlán and Venice were both marsh cities]] %% - The development of herd-driving methods allowed for the [Botai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botai_culture) peoples to specialize in horse-hunting and develop larger settlements. - There were many more people living in the single Mesopotamian city of as Uruk, in 4th millennium B.C.E., than in the entire Cyclades islands in the Aegean during the Hellenistic period. %% [[Aegean agriculture was very uncertain]] %% ## Blind Inbreeding A small group of British colonists founded a settlement on Tristan da Cunh in 1814. As late as 1961, the majority of the genes in the gene pool on Tristan were still derived from [15 original ancestors](https://www.britannica.com/place/Tristan-da-Cunha-island-group). As a result of this inbreeding, retinitis pigmentosa a degenerative vision disease is very common there. %% [[genetic bottlenecks increase prevalence of recessive conditions]] %% ## Towns > Cities Tripolyte settlements on the South Bug River, near the steppe border, mushroomed to enormous sizes (more than 400 hectares), twice the size of the biggest cities in Mesopotamia, [the biggest human settlements in the world](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdigh.2019.00010/full#h8) at the time. But instead of evolving into cities, they were abandoned. %% [[Tripolye settlements were bigger than cities]] %% ## Commodified Animals Evidence from Çatalhöyük site indicates that as [animals became more like commodities](https://peoplingthepast.com/2021/04/30/blog-post-25-lindsay-der-on-human-animal-entanglements-in-the-neolithic/), social hierarchies began to evolve. Household independence grew and communal and shared practices (like multiple households tending to herds of sheep and goat together) fell off, people’s relationships with animals also changed. %% [[Human-Animal Entanglements in the Neolithic#summation]] %% ## Priority Cows Because winter marshlands for cattle were a critical resource for cattle, the Sintashta settlements were built on the first terrace overlooking the floodplain of a marshy meandering stream; they were heavily fortified with walls and towers, but built in marshy, low places rather than the more easily defended nearby hills. [[Read More](https://indo-european.info/indo-europeans-uralians/VIII_17_Eurasian_steppes-.htm)] %% [[The Horse The Wheel And Language by David Anthony#ch15p390 The Origins of Sintashta Culture]] %%