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The Low-Density Urban Systems of the Classic Period Maya and Izapa: Insights from Settlement Scaling Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 November 2020

Michael E. Smith Open the ORCID record for Michael E. Smith [Opens in a new window] ,
Scott G. Ortman ,
José Lobo ,
Claire E. Ebert ,
Amy E. Thompson ,
Keith M. Prufer ,
Rodrigo Liendo Stuardo  and
Robert M. Rosenswig
Michael E. Smith*
Affiliation:
School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona85287, USA
Scott G. Ortman
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado80309, USA (scott.ortman@colorado.edu)
José Lobo
Affiliation:
School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona85287, USA (jose.lobo@asu.edu)
Claire E. Ebert
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania15238, USA (c.ebert@pitt.edu)
Amy E. Thompson
Affiliation:
Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago; and Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Texas at Austin, Texas, 78712, USA (amy.thompson@austin.utexas.edu)
Keith M. Prufer
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico87131, USA (kmp@unm.edu)
Rodrigo Liendo Stuardo
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico (rodrigo@liendo.net)
Robert M. Rosenswig
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, New York12222, USA (rrosenswig@albany.edu)
*
(mesmith9@asu.edu, corresponding author)
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Abstract

The peoples of southern Mesoamerica, including the Classic period Maya, are often claimed to exhibit a distinct type of spatial organization relative to contemporary urban systems. Here, we use the settlement scaling framework and properties of settlements recorded in systematic, full-coverage surveys to examine ways in which southern Mesoamerican settlement systems were both similar to and different from contemporary systems. We find that the population-area relationship in these settlements differs greatly from that reported for other agrarian settlement systems, but that more typical patterns emerge when one considers a site epicenter as the relevant social interaction area, and the population administered from a given center as the relevant interacting population. Our results imply that southern Mesoamerican populations mixed socially at a slower temporal rhythm than is typical of contemporary systems. Residential locations reflected the need to balance energetic and transport costs of farming with lower-frequency costs of commuting to central places. Nevertheless, increasing returns in activities such as civic construction were still realized through lower-frequency social mixing. These findings suggest that the primary difference between low-density urbanism and contemporary urban systems lies in the spatial and temporal rhythms of social mixing.

A menudo se afirma que los asentamientos del sur de Mesoamérica representan un tipo de organización espacial distinto al de otros sistemas urbanos contemporáneos. Utilizando el marco analítico “escalado de asentamientos” investigamos las maneras específicas en las que los sistemas de asentamientos de Mesoamérica del Sur se asemejan, o no, a sistemas contemporáneos. Utilizamos la información registrada en sondeos de asentamientos Mayas y encontramos que la relación entre población y área difiere marcadamente de lo reportado para otros sistemas de asentamientos de carácter agrario. Notamos patrones más típicos cuando consideramos el epicentro de una zona arqueológica como el área de principal interacción social. Nuestros resultados implican que las poblaciones del sur de Mesoamérica poseían ritmos de interacción más lentos que la de otros sistemas urbanos contemporáneos. Las unidades familiares ubicaban sus residencias con el fin de equilibrar los costos de transporte ligados a la actividad agrícola y al desplazamiento a lugares centrales. El aumento de los rendimientos en actividades colectivas fueron realizadas a través de mezclas sociales de menor frecuencia. Concluimos que la principal diferencia entre el urbanismo Maya de baja densidad y otras experiencias urbanas contemporáneas tienen su origen en los patrones de movimiento asociados a las interacciónes sociales.

Keywords

citiesurbanismsettlement scalingpopulation densityMayasettlement patternsciudadesurbanismoescalamiento de asentamientosdensidad de poblaciónMayapatrones de asentamiento
Type
Article
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 120 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for American Archaeology

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