Formative Period Mesoamerican Cities and Low Density Urbanism

Summary

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 Mesoamerican urban tradition began well before the Classic period, however, although its scale and extent are still underappreciated. We consider large, low occupation density settlements in Formative period Mesoamerica and their place in Mesoamerica’s urban tradition. Archaeological investigation of these early settlements has revealed the diverse mechanisms utilized by various communities to forge an identity, develop strategies of political integration and centralization, while also participating in broad and robust networks of economic and intellectual exchange. Rather than focus on definitional issues, or whether these settlements qualify as “urban” or “cities”, we explore the nature of these settlements and the trajectory of urbanization in the Formative period. Regardless of what qualifiers are attached to the term ‘urban’, our case studies illustrate how theories of urbanism and urbanization can be brought to bear in analyzing problems of aggregation, settlement growth, and trajectories of social change.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37815.0