It's funny, for a game based on history and real things, Civilization has always had a strangely fictional unit at its core: the "Settler", who can make towns and later cities just appear.
It's like they're carrying all the necessary buildings, tools and equipment needed for a settlement in their backpacks, and at the drop of a hat can just pull them all out and voila, instant civilization. Just add water! It's a bit silly.
Or is it? The Global Village Construction Set is a research project from a group of engineers that's looking to put together a "real-life LEGO set", a bundle that contains everything a small group of humans would need to build a functional and sustainable settlement.
This "set" would include 40 separate tools and pieces of equipment that would let people construct buildings, harvest resources and grow food. Everything you need! Except for temples. And Da Vinci's Workshop. And nukes. That'll all have to come later.
Global Village Construction Set [OSE, via Gizmodo]