Making Ancient Cities
Space and Place in Early Urban Societies

Investigates how the structure and use of space developed and changed in cities, and examines the role of different societal groups in shaping urbanism.

Andrew T. Creekmore, III (Edited by), Kevin D. Fisher (Edited by)

9781107046528, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 April 2014

437 pages, 69 b/w illus. 12 maps
26 x 18.2 x 3 cm, 1.1 kg

This volume investigates how the structure and use of space developed and changed in cities, and examines the role of different societal groups in shaping urbanism. Culturally and chronologically diverse case studies provide a basis to examine recent theoretical and methodological shifts in the archaeology of ancient cities. The book's primary goal is to examine how ancient cities were made by the people who lived in them. The authors argue that there is a mutually constituting relationship between urban form and the actions and interactions of a plurality of individuals, groups, and institutions, each with their own motivations and identities. Space is therefore socially produced as these agents operate in multiple spheres.

1. Making ancient cities: new perspectives on the production of urban places Kevin D. Fisher and Andrew T. Creekmore, III
2. The social production of space in third millennium cities of Upper Mesopotamia Andrew T. Creekmore, III
3. North Mesopotamian urban neighborhoods at Titri? Höyük in the third millennium BC Yoko Nishimura
4. Swahili urban spaces of the East African coast Stephanie Wynne-Jones and Jeffrey Fleisher
5. The production of space and identity at classic period Chunchucmil, Yucatán, Mexico Aline Magnoni, Traci Ardren, Scott Hutson and Bruce Dahlin
6. Making the first cities on Cyprus: urbanism and social change in the Late Bronze Age Kevin D. Fisher
7. Urbanization and the emergence of the Greek polis: the case of Azoria, Crete Rodney D. Fitzsimons
8. The rise of a Minoan city and the (re)structuring of its hinterlands: a view from Galatas D. Matthew Buell
9. Cahokia: the processes and principles of the creation of an early Mississippian city John E. Kelly and James A. Brown
10. Comparing east and west: aspects of urban manufacture and retail in the capitals of the Roman and Han empires Anna Razeto
11. Ancient open space, gardens, and parks: a comparative discussion of Mesoamerican urbanism Barbara L. Stark
12. Different cities Norman Yoffee.

Subject Areas: Archaeological science, methodology & techniques [HDW], Prehistoric archaeology [HDDA], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], History of architecture [AMX]