Neighborhood Integration in Low Density Cities Which Follow a Divergent (‘Outside-In’) Urban Trajectory

Summary

One relatively understudied aspect of neighborhood integration in ancient cities relates to the divergent trajectories along which cities form. In some ancient cities, the urban periphery appeared as autonomous communities prior to the development of a center, representing an ‘outside-in’ model of urbanism. Such contexts provide a valuable case study for investigating neighborhood integration into cities, due to a clear comparative temporal threshold (before and after incorporation). This presentation explores how a small community transitioned into a low density urban neighborhood in a larger city, and how the local elites at its apex transformed into intermediate elites in an emergent three tier political system. The Late-Terminal Classic (AD 700-900) Maya polity of Lower Dover, Belize offers potential for examining this issue because the center arose in the midst of several long-established, Middle Preclassic (1000-400 BC) communities. This presentation identifies the ways in which the lives of the inhabitants of the Tutu Uitz Na neighborhood changed during the Late Classic as it transitioned from an autonomous community to become amalgamated into a polity. A focus on the changing wealth, status and behavior of inhabitants permits an understanding of how the neighborhood became incorporated politically, economically, ritually and socially.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20661