Historical City Strategies: Employing Social Distancing to Avert Illnesses Throughout Ages
Researchers Explore Ancient City Layouts and Disease Transmission
In a recent study, a team of researchers, including Dr. R. Alexander Bentley of the University of Tennessee, delved into the intriguing layouts of ancient cities to determine potential interactions with disease transmission. This research focused on the early farmers of Europe and the dynamic pattern of urban collapse over time.
The question: Why did early farmers move from large, dense villages to cities, only to abandon them shortly afterwards? Climate change, overpopulation, and social pressures have often been posited as explanations for urban collapse, but a new hypothesis suggests that disease could play a significant role.
The research team analyzed the layouts of later settlements to examine how they might have influenced disease transmission. One striking example is the world's oldest farming village, Çatalhöyük in present-day Turkey, where thousands of people resided in mud-brick houses packed so tightly together that they entered via ladder through a trapdoor on the roof. The close proximity of people and animals likely facilitated the breeding of zoonotic diseases, and evidence indicates that tuberculosis and salmonella were present in the region as early as 8500 BCE and 4500 BCE, respectively. Such diseases may have driven the abandonment of densely settled areas.
A contrasting example is the layout of the Trypillia culture's mega-settlements, which reappeared around 4000 BCE. These settlements, such as Nebelivka and Maidanetske, featured hundreds of wooden, two-story houses regularly spaced in concentric ovals, clustered in pie-shaped neighborhoods, and each with its own large assembly house. This lower-density, clustered layout might have helped prevent the spread of disease outbreaks.
To test this theory, the researchers adapted computer models to simulate disease spread at Nebelivka. The simulations suggested that if people visited other neighborhoods infrequently, the clustered layout would have significantly reduced outbreaks of early foodborne diseases. This finding highlights how the Trypillian layout could have facilitated early farmers' ability to live together in low-density urban populations, despite the increasing incidence of zoonotic diseases.
While specific details about sanitation practices in Trypillia settlements are scarce, the organized layout likely allowed for better waste management and hygiene practices, further reducing the risk of disease transmission. Overall, this research sheds light on the role of settlement layout in promoting population health.
The Trypillian mega-settlements were eventually abandoned, partially due to the emergence of new disease vectors that could evade the advantages of the neighborhood layout. The first cities in Mesopotamia developed shortly after, with more sanitary conditions, importation of food, and organized waste management practices that diminished the risk of infectious diseases.
As our understanding of ancient cities and their interactions with diseases continues to evolve, this research highlights the significance of settlement layout in shaping the course of human history. This knowledge can provide valuable insights for designing modern cities to better withstand the challenges posed by infectious diseases.
In the study, researchers also explored the impact of settlement layout on medical-conditions, specifically focusing on the Trypillia mega-settlements. The clustered layout of Trypillian cities, featuring lower-density hurdle-shaped neighborhoods, might have contributed to health-and-wellness by reducing the spread of early foodborne diseases (such as salmonella). Furthermore, this research suggests that the organization of cities can significantly influence health outcomes, pointing towards the importance of settlement design in preventing the spread of diseases, even in the context of increasing incidence of zoonotic diseases.
