Abstract
Many humans live in large, complex political centers, composed of multi-scalar communities including neighborhoods and districts. Both today and in the past, neighborhoods form a fundamental part of cities and are defined by their spatial, architectural, and material elements. Neighborhoods existed in ancient centers of various scales, and multiple methods have been employed to identify ancient neighborhoods in archaeological contexts. However, the use of different methods for neighborhood identification within the same spatiotemporal setting results in challenges for comparisons within and between ancient societies. Here, we focus on using a single method—combining Average Nearest Neighbor (ANN) and Kernel Density (KD) analyses of household groups—to identify potential neighborhoods based on clusters of households at 23 ancient centers across the Maya Lowlands. While a one-size-fits all model does not work for neighborhood identification everywhere, the ANN/KD method provides quantifiable data on the clustering of ancient households, which can be linked to environmental zones and urban scale. We found that centers in river valleys exhibited greater household clustering compared to centers in upland and escarpment environments. Settlement patterns on flat plains were more dispersed, with little discrete spatial clustering of households. Furthermore, we categorized the ancient Maya centers into discrete urban scales, finding that larger centers had greater variation in household spacing compared to medium-sized and smaller centers. Many larger political centers possess heterogeneity in household clustering between their civic-ceremonial cores, immediate hinterlands, and far peripheries. Smaller centers exhibit greater household clustering compared to larger ones. This paper quantitatively assesses household clustering among nearly two dozen centers across the Maya Lowlands, linking environment and urban scale to settlement patterns. The findings are applicable to ancient societies and modern cities alike; understanding how humans form multi-scalar social groupings, such as neighborhoods, is fundamental to human experience and social organization.
Funder
National Science Foundation
Post-PhD Research Grant, Wenner-Gren Foundation
FAMSI
The Alphawood Foundation
NASA Space Archaeology Program
GeoOntological Development Society
National Geographic Society
Explorer’s Club of New York
Exploration Fund
Rust Family Foundation Archaeology Grant
Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation
USAID/Government of Belize
Dart Foundation
Stans Foundation
Ahau Foundation
Glick Foundation
Bernard Osher Foundation
Geraldine and Emory Ford Foundation
Trevor Colbourn Anthropology Endowment Fund
Hellman Foundation
Tilden Family Foundation
Social Science Research Council of Canada
Exploring Solutions Past ~ The Maya Forest Alliance
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Experiment.com Archaeology Grant Challenge
The University of New Mexico Roger’s Research Award
University of Pittsburgh International Studies Fund
University of Pittsburgh Department of Anthropology
University of Pittsburgh Center for Latin American Studies
American Institute of Archaeology Cotsen Grant
Lycoming College Professional Development Grant
University of California Merced Center for Humanities
University of California
Merced Faculty Senate
University of California Merced GIS Center
University of Nevada Las Vegas Friends of World Anthropology Award
Penn State Department of Anthropology Hill Fellowship for graduate student research
The University of London Gordon Childe Fund of
Pomona College
University of Nevada Las Vegas
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
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