Urban Form and Social Dimension at the Classic Maya City of Palenque

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Urban Question: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Investigating the Ancient Mesoamerican City" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In this paper I will explore the extent of planning and its social dimension at the ancient Maya city of Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico. Between the seventh and ninth centuries, during the Classic period, the plateau where Palenque is located was extensively modified resulting in a prosperous, highly nucleated city, harmoniously integrated with its surrounding. Through the analysis of spatial organization, accessibility, infrastructure, and water management features, among others, I will assess the environment modifications that guaranteed control and access to resources at city and neighborhood level. Likewise, I will delve into the effect of urban driving forces—like land-type, distance from the city core, from water resources or infrastructure—into the urbanization processes. The impact of planning choices within the city and the differences between neighborhoods will be contrasted with GIS studies. Such an approach can help elucidate the way city guides and sustain the flow of practices and experiences and how its material structure channels movements while fostering and conditioning human interactions. Similarly, this methodology can help thinking on the way social divisions, expressed in the materiality of urban form, would have conditioned or differentiated the experience of the city.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Urban Question: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Investigating the Ancient Mesoamerican City   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32380