The Low-Density Urban Systems of the Classic Period Maya and Izapa: Insights from Settlement Scaling Theory. Issue 1 (March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Smith, Michael E.; Ortman, Scott G.; Lobo, José; Ebert, Claire E.; Thompson, Amy E.; Prufer, Keith M.; Liendo Stuardo, Rodrigo; Rosenswig, Robert M.
• Is Part Of: Latin American antiquity. Volume 32:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 120
• Page End: 137
• Publication Date: 2021-03
• Subjects: cities, -- urbanism, -- settlement scaling, -- population density, -- Maya, -- settlement patterns; ciudades, -- urbanismo, -- escalamiento de asentamientos, -- densidad de población, -- Maya, -- patrones de asentamiento; Indians of Mexico -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; Indians of Central America -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; Indians of South America -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; Latin America -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; 918
• DOI: 10.1017/laq.2020.80
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1045-6635

Abstract

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.