Collective Action in the Formation of Pre-Modern States

Blanton, Richard E.; Fargher, Lane F.

doi:10.1007/978-0-387-73877-2

Cited by 357 publications

(382 citation statements)

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“…Institutional economics (North 1984;North 1991) is another area in which the spatial expressions of economic and political processes in urban settings have yet to be explored in detail. Collective action theory (Levi 1988;Ostrom 2007) is a potentially productive body of empirical theory that is just beginning to receive attention from archaeologists (Blanton and Fargher 2008;Smith 2008), and its application to urban dynamics has potential.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empirical Urban Theory for Archaeologists

Smith

2010

J Archaeol Method Theory

156

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I review several bodies of empirical urban theory relevant to the archaeological analysis of ancient cities. Empirical theory is a type of "middlerange theory" (following Robert Merton): sets of concepts and methods that are less abstract, and have greater empirical content, than high-level social theory. The categories of theory reviewed here include environment-behavior theory, architectural communication theory, space syntax, urban morphology, reception theory, generative planning theory, normative theory, and city size theory. Most of these approaches originated in the fields of architecture, planning, and geography, and they directly link the urban-built environment to the actions of people within cities.Keywords Urbanism . Theory . Planning . Middle-range theory . Built environment Archaeological research on ancient cities and urbanism exhibits a wide range of perspectives on the use of theory. Some archaeologists pursue descriptive research with little explicit use of theory, while others embrace high-level social theory. Still others chart a course between these poles by using lower-level concepts. Work in this latter category is more abstract than empirical description but more grounded and less abstract than high-level social theory. I call this body of work "empirical urban theory," and in this paper I argue that this is an especially productive explanatory approach for understanding ancient cities and urban life. In defining "theory" I follow anthropologist Roy Ellen, who states that theories, provide us with a framework through which we can explain and interpret data, and they should do so parsimoniously. So, we might define theory as 'A supposition or body of suppositions designed to explain phenomena or data' (Ellen 2010: 390).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empirical Urban Theory for Archaeologists

Smith

2010

J Archaeol Method Theory

156

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“…Under collective action, people tend to receive more services from the government but more rules are required to maintain order. Blanton and Fargher (2008) see collective action as having the potential to be more democratic and not completely autocratic; we would argue that collective action also can be fostered by a hierarchical government as a management strategy. We have argued that Caracol's Late Classic society was governed and managed through a purposeful strategy of control that we have termed ''symbolic egalitarianism'' (A.…”

Section: Symbolic Egalitarianismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Caracol, Belize, and Changing Perceptions of Ancient Maya Society

Chase

2016

J Archaeol Res

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Archaeological research at Caracol, an ancient Maya site that was rediscovered in 1937, has become a major resource in the interpretation and understanding of the ancient Maya. Caracol, in west-central Belize, is situated in a subtropical region once characterized as being unsuitable for the development or maintenance of complex societies, yet it is one of the largest, if not the largest Classic period Maya site in the southern Maya Lowlands, home to over 100,000 people at its height between AD 600 and 700. The investigations at Caracol underscore the utility of long-term archaeological projects incorporating large-scale settlement study that combine excavation with varied research designs and the use of a contextual approach. By employing Maya epigraphic history, traditional archaeology, and modern technology like LiDAR, research at Caracol details the rise, maintenance, and fall of an ancient Maya city, affording a large window into ancient Maya lifeways. Archaeological work provides evidence of sustainable agriculture, a market economy, city planning that included a road system, the impact of warfare on the site's inhabitants, the sociopolitical status of women, the role that archaeology can play in refining written history, and the significance of commemorating the cyclical passage of time to the ancient Maya. This article

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“…This issue has been debated for many years (Cowgill, 1983;Pasztory, 1997). The publication of Blanton and Fargher's influential book, Collective Action in the Formation of Pre-Modern States (Blanton & Fargher, 2008) allows this debate to be expressed in more precise terms with a stronger comparative and theoretical framework than previously (see also, Blanton, 2016;Carballo, 2013;Carballo, Roscoe, & Feinman, 2014).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Teotihuacan Anomaly: The Historical Trajectory of Urban Design in Ancient Central Mexico

Smith

2017

Open Archaeology

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Abstract:The ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacan had the most aberrant design of any city in ancient Mesoamerica. I examine similarities and differences between the design of Teotihuacan and other Mesoamerican cities. During the Preclassic period, a set of common Mesoamerican planning principles emerged. The designers of Teotihuacan rejected most of these principles in favor of a new and radical set of planning concepts. After the fall of Teotihuacan, subsequent urban planners ignored the Teotihuacan principles and returned to ancient Mesoamerican planning ideas. Elements of the Teotihuacan plan did not resurface until the Mexica of Tenochtitlan revived them for a specific goal. The historical sequence of central Mexican city layouts highlights the anomalous character of Teotihuacan's principles of urban design within the canons of ancient Mesoamerican urbanism.

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Collective Action in the Formation of Pre-Modern States

Cited by 357 publications

References 74 publications

Empirical Urban Theory for Archaeologists

Empirical Urban Theory for Archaeologists

Caracol, Belize, and Changing Perceptions of Ancient Maya Society

The Teotihuacan Anomaly: The Historical Trajectory of Urban Design in Ancient Central Mexico

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