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A Mesoamerican Urban Road Network: An Analysis of Pedestrian Pathways of Angamuco, Michoacán

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2022

Rodrigo Solinis-Casparius Open the ORCID record for Rodrigo Solinis-Casparius [Opens in a new window]
Rodrigo Solinis-Casparius*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA
*
(rsolinis@uic.edu)
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Abstract

This article examines the urban layout and development of the ancient city of Angamuco (AD 250–1530)—a populated urban center located within the core area of the Purépecha Empire in Michoacán, Mexico—through the lens of its complex road network. Image and network analysis of lidar datasets revealed more than 3,000 roads distributed throughout the site, identified the main patterns of road arrangement, and documented variable accessibility within the city. After presenting a summary of these results, I propose that road networks are fundamental components of urban centers that can help reveal social configurations, local interactions, and models of governance. The study of the road network at the site of Angamuco suggests that this city developed organically without the strong influence of political hierarchy a few centuries prior to the formation of the Purépecha Empire. Angamuco inhabitants organized and negotiated space and settlement within their immediate community and had access to virtually all areas of the city.

Este análisis examina el trazado urbano y el desarrollo de la antigua ciudad de Angamuco, un centro urbano densamente poblado ubicado en el área nuclear del Imperio Purépecha, Michoacán, México (250–1530 d.C.) a través del enfoque de su compleja red vial. A través de este análisis de imágenes y redes de conjuntos de datos lidar, se mapearon más de 3,000 caminos distribuidos por toda la superficie del sitio, se identificaron los principales patrones de disposición de caminos, y se documentó la accesibilidad variable dentro de la ciudad. Aquí presento un resumen de los principales resultados y propongo que las redes viales son componentes fundamentales de los centros urbanos que pueden ayudar a revelar configuraciones sociales e interacciones locales, así como modelos de gobernanza. En resumen, el estudio de la red vial sugiere que Angamuco se desarrolló orgánicamente sin una fuerte influencia de la jerarquía política pocos siglos antes de la formación del Imperio Purépecha. Los habitantes de Angamuco se organizaron y negociaron espacios y asentamientos dentro de su comunidad inmediata y tenían acceso a prácticamente todas las áreas de la ciudad.

Keywords

Movement infrastructureroadsroad networklidarurbanismAngamucoMichoacánMesoamericaInfraestructura de movimientocaminosred viallidarurbanismoAngamucoMichoacánMesoamérica
Type
Article
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 33 , Issue 3 , September 2022 , pp. 464 - 484
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for American Archaeology

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