Urbanization is a complex technological process that depends on social, political and environmental factors peculiar to the region. The Aegean region comprises of the Mediterranean region and Greece. Urbanization of this area cannot be attributed to the mere presence of raw materials such as copper and tin. For urbanization to happen there also needs to be fertile land close by, to produce the agricultural products necessary to feed the people involved in production and processing activities. There are many theories regarding urbanization in the Aegean region. Some early diffusionist accounts felt that the concept of urbanization took root in the Near East and spread eastwards to the Indus Valley and south-east Asia and to the west, to Crete, Greece and Rome and thence to Europe as a whole (Chant and Goodman 48). Archaeologists feel that the emergence of cities was the result of interacting, indigenous developments in technology, culture and social organization. The first European Neolithic communities were established around 7000 BCE in Greece and the Balkans; their agriculture was based on crops such as emmer wheat, and animals such as sheep and goats, brought from Western Anatolia. Copper metallurgy flourished in the Aegean region during the late Neolithic period. A sudden growth in the metal industry spurred by the use of bronze and other copper alloys dates from about 3000 BCE (Colin 49). During the same time, the Aegean region experienced rapid population growth, the domestication of grape and other tree fruits and the development of a more ranked or hierarchical society. Agriculture and bronze metallurgy created opportunities for trade. Cities first developed as a result of intensive trading in the eastern Mediterranean region, including the Aegean Sea. As bronze become more and more widely used, the first Aegean civilizations looked for other sources of copper and tin as local deposits were exhausted. The intense trading activity in the Aegean region was also supported by the geographical positioning of the region near to the ocean so as to be accessible to the urban civilizations of the Near East. The Aegean region was abundant in building stone, clay for pottery, good quality timber and iron ore from Greece, and copper in Cyprus (Chant 50). Encouraging sea trade, the main coastline was full of natural harbors and groups of accessible islands. One such group of islands in the Aegean region stretched from the Peloponnese through Crete and Carpathos to Rhodes near the mainland of Anatolia (Chant 50). This was where urbanization first took place. The first Bronze Age civilization was called Minoan after Minos, the ruler of Crete. The Minoan civilization existed between 2600 and 1400 BCE. The Minoans were skilled in making of pottery, metalworking, weaving and dyeing and building in local stone, especially limestone, gypsum and alabaster. They built palaces of monumental stone. Sea and land communications were well developed. The main southern port was connected with the palace of Knossos by a stretch of road. Each palace controlled a network of villas in the countryside and together they could store agricultural surplus. This storage of crops facilitated the living of potters, weavers and metal workers. Gournia was a small town in which artisans lived around the palace (Chant 50). After the first palaces were destroye