Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions

DOCUMENT Citation Only Min Li.

This is an abstract from the "Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Large Neolithic settlements (approximately 1–4 km2 in size) surrounded by rammed earth walls or moat enclosures are frequently referred to as cheng (often translated as “the walled city”) in Chinese archaeology and analyzed as proto-urban centers through Childe’s notion...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Michael Love. Julia Guernsey.

This is an abstract from the "Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Mesoamerica is one of only a handful of places in the ancient world where first-generation cities developed independently, and the lowland Maya cities of the Classic period are frequently cited as prime examples of low-density urbanism. Scholars now recognize that the...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Leonardo García Sanjuán. Francisco Sánchez Díaz.

This is an abstract from the "Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the last two decades, mega-sites have become a defining feature in the research of Copper Age Iberia, opening up completely new avenues for the analysis of early social complexity in this region. One of the most fascinating cases is the Valencina de la...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Kirrily White.

This is an abstract from the "Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Early giant settlements such as Chaco Canyon, the Tswana “towns,” and the European oppida have long seemed anomalous to scholarship because they did not ally their vast extents with characteristics of conventional urbanism. These large low-density settlements emerged...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Nadine Moeller.

This is an abstract from the "Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Much attention has been drawn to the discovery of unusually large agglomerations, so-called “anomalous giants,” that appeared out of nothing at different times and in many parts of the world, suddenly and without any signs for a noticeable long-term trend that would...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Stéphen Rostain. Antoine Dorison.

This is an abstract from the "Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A dense system of prehispanic urban centers has been found in the Upano Valley of Amazonian Ecuador, in the eastern foothills of the Andes. Fieldwork and lidar analysis reveal a deeply anthropized landscape with complexes of monumental platforms; plazas and streets...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Tom Moore.

This is an abstract from the "Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The mega-sites that emerged in the European Late Iron Age (ca. third century BCE–first century CE), often referred to as oppida, have struggled to be understood in the context of traditional concepts of urbanism. Comparative approaches to urbanism have, however,...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Daniel Rodriguez Osorio.

This is an abstract from the "Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper develops a novel model to understand the social organization of landscapes and urban settlements in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. This region's history mainly stems from the imposition of European categories to interpret the sociopolitical organization of...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Jose Iriarte. Heiko Prumers. Carla Jaimes Betancourt. Mark Robinson.

This is an abstract from the "Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This presentation summarizes archaeological and lidar data from the Casarabe culture (~500-1400 CE) in the Llanos de Mojos savannah and forest mosaic in southwest Amazonia. Lidar revealed a four-tiered settlement system that spread over 4,500 km2 with large extensive...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Melissa Burham.

This is an abstract from the "Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Maya site of Ceibal, Guatemala, became a preeminent center in the Pasión Region of the southern lowlands over the Preclassic period (ca. 950 BCE-350 CE). During the latter centuries of this period, minor temple complexes were built at regular intervals within the...

DOCUMENT Citation Only John Walker.

This is an abstract from the "Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Llanos de Moxos (Moxos) in the Bolivian Amazon is a useful case study for questions of settlement pattern, agricultural intensification, and social organization, particularly in light of its ambiguous status as both Amazonian and Andean, and neither Andean nor...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Phillip Parton. Geoffrey Clark.

This is an abstract from the "Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The concept of low-density urbanization has been an important development in recognizing the diversity of past human settlements. However, the key challenge to studying low density urbanization with archaeological data, particularly in tropical zones, has been the...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Sarah Baires.

This is an abstract from the "Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The city of Cahokia sits in a landscape occupied by bodies of water, distinctive biota, and unique stone and mineral deposits. This flood plain landscape of the Mississippi River served for millennia as home to Indigenous peoples who lived in semi sedentary communities...