MAYURB · Understanding ancient urbanism: site planning and unintended consequences of the Classic Maya city as a model

Understanding ancient urbanism: site planning and unintended consequences of the Classic Maya city as a model

MAYURB addressed the study of ancient urbanism using the Classic Maya Period (250-900 CE) as the basis. The novelty of the project relies on its comprehensive understanding of the ancient city, with a perspective that delves into site planning theory, explores the conditioning imposed by location, tradition and practical needs while considering the city as a pattern of relations between human groups. MAYURB focused on the Classic period capital of Palenque as a case of analysis to understand ancient Maya society and urban complexity. Specifically, MAYURB developed around five research objectives: • Define the urban layout of Palenque to understand the city performance through its composition, sectorization, functioning and accessibility at different scales of analysis; • Elucidate to what extent Palenque’s form is the result of landscape morphology, authority’s decisions, basic dwelling-needs satisfaction and negotiation, corporate groups participation, the effect of religion and worldview on buildings’ astronomical orientation, social differences and subsistence. • Understand the unintended consequences of city life and growth at Palenque through time. • Explore the participation of community in shaping the urban fabric and the role of place in forging relations or in contributing to social differentiation. • Propose a novel methodological framework and contribute to a theoretical enhancement for the study of ancient urbanism, which rely on the strength of interdisciplinary collaboration and interchange between the disciplines that investigate the urban environment and its relation with its inhabitants. Thanks to the collaboration of the Department of Ancient World Studies of the Sapienza University of Rome and the Anthropological Research Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (IIA-UNAM), and the connection and teamwork with international institutions such as the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), the University of California (UC) Berkeley and San Diego, the ZRC SAZU, the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), the project explored new ways of addressing the spatiality of the urban. MAYURB results led the ER to confirm the importance of neighborhoods and their inhabitants in forging the urban layout, with variations that complemented and modified the infrastructural network at a local scale. Our excavations in spatially close architectural compounds, are helping in reassessing Palenque development, pointing to neighborhoods formation as a direct response to city center growth. Our findings highlighted considerable differences in architectural arrangement and daily practices, suggesting a hierarchical social organization at a neighborhood and compound levels. The research at a neighborhood-scale was integrated with innovative digital archaeological documentation of Palenque, allowing the ER and colleagues to explore new ways of collaboration and interaction with the 3D image of the city. This city-scale analysis helped us in reviewing the size of Palenque in Late Classic time (800-900 CE), to better appreciate the extension of landscape modification for a growing population, while identifying new entrances to the city that helped in understanding mobility and daily interactions.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union