Recent realizations that prehispanic cities in Mesoamerica were fundamentally different from western cities of the same period have led to increasing examination of the neighborhood as an intermediate
“I can’t say enough good things about this book. Urban organization has received renewed emphasis in the last five years, much of it sparked by the work of these participants. As such, this volume represents a clearly emerging focus in Mesoamerican archaeology.” —Christopher T. Fisher, co-editor of The Archaeology of Environmental Change: Socionatural Legacies of Degradation and Resilience
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unit at the heart of prehispanic urbanization. This book addresses the subject of neighborhoods in archaeology as analytical units between households and whole settlements.
The contributions
gathered here provide fieldwork data to document the existence of sociopolitically distinct neighborhoods within ancient Mesoamerican settlements, building upon recent advances in multi-scale
archaeological studies of these communities. Chapters illustrate the cultural variation across Mesoamerica, including data and interpretations on several different cities with a thematic focus on
regional contrasts. This topic is relatively new and complex, and this book is a strong contribution for three interwoven reasons. First, the long history of research on the "Teotihuacan barrios" is
scrutinized and withstands the test of new evidence and comparison with other Mesoamerican cities. Second, Maya studies of dense settlement patterns are now mature enough to provide substantial case
studies. Third, theoretical investigation of ancient urbanization all over the world is now more complex and open than it was before, giving relevance to Mesoamerican perspectives on ancient and
modern societies in time and space.
This volume will be of interest not only to scholars and student specialists of the Mesoamerican past but also to social scientists and urbanists looking
to contrast ancient cultures worldwide.
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