Book contents
- The Cambridge World HistoryVolume II
- The Cambridge World History
- A World with Agriculture, 12,000 bce–500 ce
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Archaeogenetics
- 3 Agricultural origins
- 4 What did agriculture do for us?
- 5 Communities
- 6 Pastoralism
- 7 Agriculture and urbanism
- 8 Early agriculture in Southwest Asia
- 9 ’Ain Ghazal, Jordan
- 10 Early agriculture in South Asia
- 11 Mehrgarh, Pakistan
- 12 Early agriculture in China
- 13 Xinglonggou, China
- 14 Early agriculture in Japan
- 15 The Nara basin paddies, Japan
- 16 Early agriculture in Southeast Asia and the Pacific
- 17 Swamp cultivators at Kuk, New Guinea
- 18 Early agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa to c. 500 ce
- 19 The Tichitt tradition in the West African Sahel
- 20 Early agriculture in the Americas
- 21 Nanchoc valley, Peru
- 22 Early agricultural society in Europe
- 23 Pioneer farmers at Brześć Kujawski, Poland
- Index
- References
7 - Agriculture and urbanism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2015
Book contents
- The Cambridge World HistoryVolume II
- The Cambridge World History
- A World with Agriculture, 12,000 bce–500 ce
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Archaeogenetics
- 3 Agricultural origins
- 4 What did agriculture do for us?
- 5 Communities
- 6 Pastoralism
- 7 Agriculture and urbanism
- 8 Early agriculture in Southwest Asia
- 9 ’Ain Ghazal, Jordan
- 10 Early agriculture in South Asia
- 11 Mehrgarh, Pakistan
- 12 Early agriculture in China
- 13 Xinglonggou, China
- 14 Early agriculture in Japan
- 15 The Nara basin paddies, Japan
- 16 Early agriculture in Southeast Asia and the Pacific
- 17 Swamp cultivators at Kuk, New Guinea
- 18 Early agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa to c. 500 ce
- 19 The Tichitt tradition in the West African Sahel
- 20 Early agriculture in the Americas
- 21 Nanchoc valley, Peru
- 22 Early agricultural society in Europe
- 23 Pioneer farmers at Brześć Kujawski, Poland
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter explores the complex relationship between agriculture and urbanism, from its central role enabling the development of larger and denser settlements over time, to varying strategies and choices in agricultural practice. New technologies are increasingly aiding archaeologists in documenting the spatial networks of these urban centres. While classic, low-tech methods like pedestrian survey are still among the most thorough methods of locating archaeological sites within an urban catchment, this form of research is inherently limited in scale. These expanded archaeological data sets on urban-hinterland relationships have both increased our ability to challenge the standard narrative and illustrated its persistence. The modern understandings of the relationship between urbanism and agriculture continue to erode long-held beliefs, the standard narrative, that urban zones were highly centralized systems abstracted from their hinterland, which provided agricultural products for the city under despotic control.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge World History , pp. 186 - 209Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015
References
Further reading
Blanton, R.E. and Fargher, L.. Collective Action in the Formation of Pre-modern States. New York: Springer, 2008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boserup, E. The Conditions of Agricultural Growth: The Economics of Agrarian Change under Population Pressure. University of Chicago Press, 1965.Google Scholar
Cowgill, G.L. ‘Origins and development of urbanism: archaeological perspectives.’ Annual Review of Anthropology, 33 (2004), 525–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, C.T., Leisz, S.J., and Weishampel, J.F.. ‘Geospatial revolution and remote sensing LiDAR in Mesoamerican archaeology.’ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109 (2012), 12916–21.Google Scholar
Heckenberger, M.J., Russell, J.C., Fausto, C., et al. ‘Pre-Columbian urbanism, anthropogenic landscapes, and the future of the Amazon.’ Science, 321 (2008), 1214–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kron, G. ‘Food production.’ In Schiedel, W. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Economy. Cambridge University Press, 2012. 156–74.Google Scholar
Marcus, J. and Sabloff, J. (eds.). The Ancient City: New Perspectives on Urbanism in the Old and New World. Santa Fe, NM: School for Advanced Research, 2008.Google Scholar
Marcus, J. and Stanish, C. (eds.). Agricultural Strategies. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, 2006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marston, J.M. ‘Archaeological markers of agricultural risk management.’ Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 30 (2011), 190–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAnany, P.A. and Yoffee, N. (eds.). Questioning Collapse: Human Resilience, Ecological Vulnerability, and the Aftermath of Empire. Cambridge University Press, 2010.Google Scholar
McIntosh, R.J. Ancient Middle Niger: Urbanism and the Self-Organizing Landscape. Cambridge University Press, 2005.Google Scholar
McIntosh, S.K. ‘Modeling political organization in large-scale settlement clusters: a case study from the inland Niger delta, Mali.’ In McIntosh, S.K. (ed.), Beyond Chiefdoms: Pathways to Complexity in Africa. Cambridge University Press, 1999. 66–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menze, B.H. and Ur, J.A.. ‘Mapping patterns of long-term settlement in northern Mesopotamia at a large scale.’ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109 (2012), 778–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morrison, K.D. ‘The intensification of production: archaeological approaches.’ Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 1 (1994), 111–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ogundiran, A. ‘Four millennia of cultural history in Nigeria (ca. 2000 bc–ad 1900): archaeological perspectives.’ Journal of World Prehistory, 19 (2005), 133–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollock, S. Ancient Mesopotamia: The Eden that Never Was. Cambridge University Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Redman, C.L. Human Impact on Ancient Environments. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Rosen, A. Civilizing Climate: Social Responses to Climate Change in the Ancient Near East. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Sanders, W.T., de Escobar, A.G.M., and Cobean, R.H. (eds.). Urbanism in Mesoamerica. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Smith, A. The Political Landscape: Constellations of Authority in Early Complex Polities. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, M. (ed.). The Social Construction of Ancient Cities. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Stone, G.D. Settlement Ecology: The Social and Spatial Organization of Kofyar Agriculture. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1996.Google Scholar
Storey, G.D. (ed.). Urbanism in the Preindustrial World: Cross-Cultural Approaches. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Trigger, B. Understanding Early Civilizations. Cambridge University Press, 2003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, B. and Sabloff, J.. ‘Classic period collapse of the Central Maya lowlands: insights about human–environment relationships for sustainability.’ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109 (2012), 13908–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van de Mieroop, M. The Ancient Mesopotamian City. Oxford University Press, 1997.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weber, M. The City, trans. Martindale, D. and Neuwirth, G.. Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1958 [1921].Google Scholar
Weber, M.Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. 3 vols. New York: Bedminster Press, 1968 [1922].Google Scholar
Wittfogel, K.A. Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1957.Google Scholar
Zeder, M.A. Feeding Cities: Specialized Animal Economy in the Ancient Near East. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991.Google Scholar
- 4
- Cited by