THIS STORY IS NOT TRUE
"we have been telling ourselves a simple story about the origins of social inequality. For most of their history, humans lived in tiny egalitarian bands of hunter-gatherers. Then came farming, which brought with it private property, & then the rise of cities & the emergence of civilization properly speaking. Civilization meant many bad things… but also made possible written literature, science, philosophy, & most other great human achievements." https://www.eurozine.com/change-course-human-history/
@dazinism "there is mounting evidence that the first cities were organised on self-consciously egalitarian lines, municipal councils retaining significant autonomy from central government. In the first two cases, cities with sophisticated civic infrastructures flourished for over half a millennium with no trace of royal burials or monuments, no standing armies or other means of large-scale coercion, nor any hint of direct bureaucratic control over most citizen’s lives."
@lwriemen
If you are into podcasts
Heres a interview with one of the articles writers - https://srslywrong.com/podcast/242-the-dawn-of-the-dawn-of-everything-w-david-wengrow/
Also a recent podcast about one of the places mentioned in your quote- https://wondery.com/shows/tides-of-history/episode/5629-what-was-the-indus-valley-civilization-interview-with-dr-adam-green/