Proto-city is a term usually used to describe large villages or towns of the Neolithic Period such as Jericho and Catal Huyuk, but also any prehistoric  settlement which has both rural and urban features, in an attempt to distinguish them from cities in later periods. Predynastic Egypt and Ubaid Sumeria featured what some call proto-cities. The break from these later mentioned settlements and urban settlements is the emergence of Eridu, the first Sumerian city, in the Uruk period around 4000 BC. A European example of this would be the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture which dates back to the 4th millennium BC.