In "The Urban Revolution" (1950), V. Gordan Childe hypothesized ten traits of civilization: urban centers, occupational specialization, monumental buildings, taxation by and/or tribute to elite, isolation of ruling group(s), writing, art, long-distance trade, social solidarity reinforced through common ideologies, and state formation. The author of this study analyzes these traits, and in particular, the presence of written language, with data from two different databases, one ethnographic and one archaeological. He finds that written language is highly correlated with the other traits of civilization as hypothesized by V. Gordan Childe.