Early Mesoamerican Cities : Urbanism and Urbanization in the Formative Period

Urbanization is a phenomenon that brings into focus a range of topics of broad interest to scholars. It is one of the central, enduring interests of anthropological archaeology. Because urbanization is a transformational process, it changes the relationships between social and cultural variables such as demography, economy, politics, and ideology. As one of a handful of cases in the ancient world where cities developed independently, Mesoamerica should play a major role in the global, comparative analysis of first-generation cities and urbanism in general. Yet most research focuses on later manifestations of urbanism in Mesoamerica, thereby perpetuating the fallacy that Mesoamerican cities developed relatively late in comparison to urban centers in the rest of the world. This volume presents new data, case studies, and models for approaching the subject of early Mesoamerican cities. It demonstrates how the study of urbanism in Mesoamerica, and all ancient civilizations, is entering a new and dynamic phase of scholarship. Cover Half-title Title Page Copyright Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Contributors Acknowledgments Chapter One Introduction: Early Mesoamerican Cities, Urbanism, and Urbanization in the Formative Period Why Think about Urbanism and Urbanization? Definitions of Urbanism? A Brief History of Urbanism and Urbanization in Mesoamerica's Formative Period What Mesoamerica Can Show about Urbanism and Early Cities Theorizing Urbanization Diversity Materiality and the Generative Power of Place Connectedness Politics and the Early City Concluding Thoughts A Note on Chronologies Acknowledgments Chapter Two Oaxaca's Formative Period Cities and Their Implications for Early Urbanism in Mesoamerica Monte Albán Mixtec Urban Centers Río Viejo Concluding Thoughts Acknowledgments Chapter Three Early Urbanization in the Formative Gulf Lowlands, Mexico Early Urbanization in the Southern Gulf Lowlands San Lorenzo La Venta Making Later Urban Places in the Southern and Central Gulf Lowlands Cerro de las Mesas Tres Zapotes Concluding Thoughts Acknowledgments Chapter Four Patterns of Early Urbanism in the Southern Maya Lowlands Urbanization and the ''Politics of Place'' Alternative Urbanisms The ''Jungle Urbanism'' of the Lowland Maya Institutional Preconditioning Ch'een, a Maya View of Urbanism First Ch'een, First Principles The Birth of the Public Sphere The Standardization of Movement Concluding Thoughts: Urban Unanimity Chapter Five The Role of Middle Preclassic Placemaking in the Creation of Late Preclassic Yucatecan Cities: The Foundations of Yaxuná The Early Maya City Yaxuná as a Late Preclassic City The Founding of Yaxuná The Establishment of the E Group The Enlargement of the E Group Expanding Performance The Transition to Late Preclassic Urbanism Terminal Preclassic Transformations Concluding Thoughts Acknowledgments Chapter Six The City over the City: Kaminaljuyu and Urbanism Antecedents of Urbanism at Kaminaljuyu The Rise of Kaminaljuyu Aggregation, Trade, and Cultural Diversity Neighborhoods in Kaminaljuyu The Preclassic Landscape Water, Hydraulics, and Urbanism Altepetl and Urbanism: Local Concepts of Kaminaljuyu's Universe Concluding Thoughts Acknowledgments Chapter Seven The New Normal: Formative Period Cities on the Pacific Coast of Southern Mesoamerica How Urbanism Grew The Early Middle Formative Watershed The City of La Blanca Districts and Neighborhoods in La Blanca Hierarchy and Heterarchy at La Blanca Hierarchy and Economy during the Conchas Phase La Blanca's Hinterland: Secondary Centers and Monumentality Distribution of Population Middle to Late Formative Period Urbanism The Izapa Capital The El Ujuxte Capital Urbanism beyond the Capitals The Izapa Polity The El Ujuxte Polity Urbanism as the Norm Economy, Ritual, and Urbanism Ideology, Art, and Ritual Economy Concluding Thoughts Acknowledgments Chapter Eight The Nature of Early Urbanism at Teotihuacan The Growth of Early Cities in Central Mexico The Roots of Central Mexico's Urban Tradition The Late Formative Florescence Early Teotihuacan Cosmic City Planning The Orientation of the Teotihuacan City Grid The Teotihuacan Measurement System The Symbolism of Spatial Patterning during the Miccaotli Phase and Beyond The Symbolism of Major Monuments The Moon Pyramid The Sun Pyramid The Feathered Serpent Pyramid and the Ciudadela Concluding Thoughts Acknowledgements Chapter Nine Art and Urbanity in Late Formative Mesoamerica Late Formative Urbanisms Urbanism and Urbanity Art and Privilege in Mesoamerica The Sculptural Innovations of Late Formative Urbanism: Narrative and Writing Urbanism and the Kingly Body Sculpture, Order, and Elite Social Reproduction Concluding Thoughts Acknowledgments Chapter Ten Landscape and Leadership in Mesoamerican Cities: A Comparative View Landscape Leadership Paradigms Concluding Thoughts: Mesoamerican Urbanism at the Junction of Space and Time Chapter Eleven Experimental Cities? References Index Introduction: Early Mesoamerican cities, urbanism, and urbanization in the formative period / Michael Love -- Oaxaca's formative period cities and their implications for early urbanism in Mesoamerica / Arthur A. Joyce -- Early urbanization in the formative Gulf lowlands, Mexico / by Christopher A. Pool and Michael L. Loughlin -- Patterns of early urbanism in the Southern Maya lowlands / Marcello A. Canuto and Francisco Estrada-Belli -- The role of Middle Preclassic placemaking in the creation of Late Preclassic Yucatean cities : the foundations of Yaxuná / Travis W. Stanton and Ryan H. Collins -- The city over the city : Kaminaljuyu and urbanism / Bárbara Arroyo -- The new normal : formative period cities on the Pacific Coase of Southern Mesoamerica / Michael Love and Robert M. Rosenswig -- The nature of early urbanism at Teotihuacan / Saburo Sugiyama -- Art and urbanity in Late Formative Mesoamerica / Julia Guernsey and Stephanie M. Strauss -- Landscape and leadership in Mesoamerican cities : a comparative view / Monica L. Smith -- Experimental cities? / Norman Yoffee "Ancient Mesoamerica was a land of cities (Fig 1.1.). Above all, it was the number and the density of cities that distinguished Mesoamerica from the complex societies in neighboring areas of North America and lower Central America. Further, although ancient Mesoamerican cities interacted to varying degrees with those cultures to the north and south, they interacted most intensively with one another. It was the shared cultural practices produced by those relationships that define Mesoamerica (Kirchoff 1943; R. Joyce 2004a)"-- Provided by publisher