Settlement Scaling and Increasing Returns in an Ancient Society, Research Paper Example

In the article “Settlement Scaling and Increasing Returns in An Ancient Society” (Sciences Advances), authors and anthropologists Scott G. Ortman, Andrew H.F. Cabannis, Jennie O. Sturm, and Luis M.A. Bettencourt focus upon archeological settlement data taken from a pre-Hispanic Basin of Mexico (BOM), located south of present-day Mexico City and dating from the Formative Period (1150 B.C.E. to 150 C.E.), the Classic Period (150 to 650 C.E.), the “political and economic dominance of Teotihuacán,” the Toltec Period (650 to 1200 C.E.), and the Aztec Period (1200 to 1520 C.E.). ¹ As noted in the abstract, the basic thrust of this article is based upon an examination of the “extent to which increasing returns are apparent in the archaeological settlement data” from the above-mentioned site and time periods, and the “previous work on the quantitative relationship between population size and average settled area” in the BOM. The authors then provide a “general analysis of the patterns of monument construction and house sizes.” The overall importance of this article is that it adds substantially to past research on settlement scaling theories and the relationship between land use and the placement of buildings.

The main thesis statement or hypothesis of the authors is that by estimating scaling parameter values and residual statistics, it becomes clear that “increasing returns to scale characterized various forms of socioeconomic production” as shown in the archaeological record and which are “consistent with key expectations from settlement scaling theory.” Thus, the overall results of the research provide “evidence that the essential processes that lead to increasing returns in contemporary cities” are also present in ancient historical human settlements, not only in Mexico but also in other settlement sites scattered throughout Southern Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, and southwards into Central America. In addition, the evidence helps to support the idea that “increasing returns do not require modern forms of political or economic organization,” being an indication that organization relevant to city structure is based on age-old agendas, dating back to the days of the Toltecs and the Aztecs whose culture was destroyed by the arrival and conquest of the Spanish conquistadors in 1520.

Some of the main points of interest in this article includes 1), previous research on the settlement scaling theory and its “relationship to standard models of land use in cities.” ⁴ This also includes empirical observations made in the past related to modern urban areas as contrasted with the urban designs of the Toltecs and Aztecs; 2), a highly-detailed discussion of the settlement scaling theory with the earliest example being the von Thunen model which addresses the structure of cities. Some of the most important elements of the settlement scaling theory are related to symmetry, human settlements as “social networks embedded in space,” size and density, spatial organization, and socioeconomic outputs; 3), population and scaling relations as they apply to a specific model which expresses the idea that “settlements tend to grow in ways that balance the cost of moving within the settlement with the benefits of the resulting social, a results section that is supported by two tables–“Population-area scaling analysis results” that explains the yields of the most productive “agricultural strategies for the pre-Hispanic periods,” and “Estimated scaling parameters for socioeconomic outputs with population” that explains the dependent and independent variables of the study; ⁶ 5), a highly-detailed examination on settlement population and house area; and 6), an extended discussion on the results of the research.

As to the types of evidence utilized by the authors to help prove and support their hypothesis, the bulk of it was taken from settlement data from “archeological surface surveys conducted in the Basin of Mexico” between 1965 and 1970 before Mexico City expanded to its current size which destroyed many archeological sites. From this settlement data, the authors then created a database of information from more than 4000 archeological sites. This database contains information on the settled area, population, time period, location, functional classification, political affiliations, and architectural remains of every settlement. ⁷ The authors also utilized some supplementary evidence related to the Basin of Mexico, the structures at Teotihuacán, and other materials gathered by earlier archeologists.

Basically, this article was chosen because of its relevancy to current studies on settlement scaling theories and as an excellent representative of the relatively new area of study known as economic archeology. As noted by the authors, this article serves as an excellent contribution to the body of knowledge related to settlement scaling at archeological sites around the world. It also reinforces the view that the “archeological record presents a vast archive of information on the determinants of socioeconomic development” and that settlement scaling theories serve as useful frameworks for additional contributions to the social sciences. ⁸

Works Cited

Ortman, Scott G., Cabannis, Andrew H.F., Sturm, Jennie O., and Luis M.A. Bettencourt. “Settlement Scaling and Increasing Returns in an Ancient Society.” Science Advances 1 el 400066 (2015): 1-8.