Skip to content
1882
Volume 5, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2736-2426
  • E-ISSN: 2736-2434

Abstract

Abstract

This paper offers three figures of thought for research on the origin of urban places and societies. As an alternative to linear, evolutionary models of urbanization, I propose to see the formation of urbanism as an evolving field guided by ‘strange attractors’, which tend to converge towards particular constellations of practices and institutions. In this view, the study of ‘odd’ urban sites and societies, , which have reached unusual constellations, can be revealing. A key attractor for urban societies is so-called ‘weak ties’, connections that reach beyond close social clusters. I suggest ways to study urban sites from the point of view of evolving social networks. To illustrate these concepts, the paper discusses coastal and riverine trading ports, emporia in northern Europe in the eighth-tenth centuries .

Open-access
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1484/J.JUA.5.129841
2022-01-01
2025-12-06

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Aral, S. 2016. ‘The Future of Weak Ties’, American Journal of Sociology, 121.6: 193139.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Ashby, S. P., A. N. Coutu, and S. M. Sindbæk. 2015. ‘Urban Networks and Arctic Outlands: Craft Specialists and Reindeer Antler in Viking Towns’, European Journal of Archaeology, 18.4: 679704 <. [Crossref]
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Ashby, S. P. and S. M. Sindbæk. 2020. ‘Crafting the Urban Network’, in S. P. Ashby and S. M. Sindbæk (eds), Crafts and Social Networks in Viking Towns (Oxford: Oxbow), pp. 1–30.
  4. Bencard, M. and L. B. Jørgensen. 1990. ‘Excavations and Stratigraphy’, in M. Bencard, L. B. Jørgensen, and H. B. Madsen (eds), Ribe Excavations 1970–76, iv (Esbjerg: Sydjysk Universitetsforlag), pp. 15–168.
  5. Blaut, J. M. 1993. The Colonizer’s Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History (New York: Guilford).
  6. Buckley, B. M., K. J. Anchukaitis, D. Penny, R. Fletcher, E. R. Cook, Masaki Sano, Le Canh Nam, A. Wichienkeeo, Ton That Minh, and Truong Mai Hong. 2010. ‘Climate as a Contributing Factor in the Demise of Angkor, Cambodia’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107.15: 6748–52.
  7. Castells, M. 1996. The Rise of the Network Society (Malden: Ballantine).
  8. Childe, V. G. 1950. ‘The Urban Revolution’, The Town Planning Review, 21.1: 317.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Chirikure, S. 2020. ‘Shades of Urbanism(s) and Urbanity in Pre-Colonial Africa’, Journal of Urban Archaeology, 1: 4966.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Christie, N. and H. Herold. 2016. ‘Introduction: Defining and Understanding Defended Settlements in Early Medieval Europe: Structures, Roles, Landscapes and Communities’, in N. Christie and H. Herold (eds), Fortified Settlements in Early Medieval Europe: Defended Communities of the 8th–10th Centuries (Oxford: Oxbow), pp. xix–xxviii.
  11. Christophersen, A. 2015. ‘Performing Towns: Steps towards an Understanding of Medieval Urban Communities as Social Practice’, Archaeological Dialogues, 22.2: 10932.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Conway Morris, S. 1998. The Crucible of Creation: The Burgess Shale and the Rise of Animals (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
  13. Cowgill, G. L. 2004. ‘Origins and Development of Urbanism: Archaeological Perspectives’, Annual Review of Anthropology, 33: 52549.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Croix, S., P. Deckers, C. Feveile, M. Knudsen, S. S. Qvistgaard, S. M. Sindbæk, and B. Wouters. 2019. ‘Single Context, Metacontext, and High Definition Archaeology: Integrating New Standards of Stratigraphic Excavation and Recording’, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 26.4: 15911631.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Croix, S., M. Neiß, and S. M. Sindbæk. 2019. ‘The réseau opératoire of Urbanization: Craft Collaborations and Organization in an Early Medieval Workshop in Ribe, Denmark’, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 29.2: 34564.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Curtis, D. R. 2013. ‘Is there an “Agro-Town” Model for Southern Italy? Exploring the Diverse Roots and Development of the Agro-Town Structure through a Comparative Case Study in Apulia’, Continuity and Change, 28.3: 377419.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Dawkins, R. 2004. The Ancestor’s Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life (London: Phoenix).
  18. Demetriou, D. 2012. Negotiating Identity in the Ancient Mediterranean: The Archaic and Classical Greek Multiethnic Emporia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
  19. Der, L. and J. Issavi. 2017. ‘The Urban Quandary and the “Mega-Site” from the Catalhöyük Perspective’, Journal of World Prehistory, 30.3: 189206.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Diachenko, A. and F. Menotti. 2017. ‘Proto-Cities or Non-Proto-Cities? On the Nature of Cucuteni–Trypillia Mega-Sites’, Journal of World Prehistory, 30: 20719.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Dupuy, G. 2008. Urban Networks: Network Urbanism (Amsterdam: Techne).
  22. Evans, D. and R. Fletcher. 2015. ‘The Landscape of Angkor Wat Redefined’, Antiquity, 89.348: 140219.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Fernández-Götz, M. 2018. ‘Urbanization in Iron Age Europe: Trajectories, Patterns, and Social Dynamics’, Journal of Archaeological Research, 26.2: 11762.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Feveile, C. 2006. ‘Ribe on the North Side of the River, 8th–12th Century’, in C. Feveile (ed.), Ribe Studier: Det Ældste Ribe; Udgravninger på nordsiden af Ribe Å 1984–2000, i.2 (Højbjerg: Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab), pp. 65–92.
  25. ——. 2010. Viking Ribe: Trade, Power and Faith (Ribe: Sydvestjyske Museer).
  26. Finley, M. I. 1973. The Ancient Economy (Berkeley: University of California Press).
  27. Fletcher, R. 1995. The Limits of Settlement Growth: A Theoretical Outline (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
  28. ——. 2009. ‘Low-Density, Agrarian-Based Urbanism: A Comparative View’, Insights (Durham University), 2.4: 219.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. ——. 2012. ‘Low-Density, Agrarian-Based Urbanism: Scale, Power, and Ecology’, in M. E. Smith (ed.), The Comparative Archaeology of Complex Societies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 285–320.
  30. ——. 2020. ‘Urban Labels and Settlement Trajectories’, Journal of Urban Archaeology, 1: 3148.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Fletcher, R., D. Evans, C. Pottier, and C. Rachna. 2015. ‘Angkor Wat: An Introduction’, Antiquity, 89.348: 13881401.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Fustel de Coulanges, N. D. 1864. La Cité antique (Paris: Hachette).
  33. Gaydarska, B. 2016. ‘The City Is Dead! Long Live the City!’, Norwegian Archaeological Review, 49.1: 4057.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Glaeser, E. L. 2011. The Triumph of Cities: How our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier (New York: Penguin).
  35. Gould, S. J. 1990. Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History (New York: Norton).
  36. Granovetter, M. 1973. ‘Weak Ties and Strong Ties’, American Journal of Sociology, 78: 136080.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. ——. 1983. ‘The Strength of Weak Ties: A Network Theory Revisited’, Sociological Theory, 1: 20133.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Hannerz, U. 1980. Exploring the City: Inquiries towards an Urban Anthropology (New York: Columbia University Press).
  39. Hansen, M. H. 2006. ‘Emporion: A Study of the Use and Meaning of the Term in the Archaic and Classical Periods’, in G. Tsetskhladze (ed.), Greek Colonization: An Account of the Greek Colonies and Other Settlements Overseas (Leiden: Brill), pp. 1–39.
  40. Hawken, S. and R. Fletcher. 2021. ‘A Long-Term Archaeological Reappraisal of Low-Density Urbanism: Implications for Contemporary Cities’, Journal of Urban Archaeology, 3: 2950.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Hohenberg, P. M. and L. H. Lees. 1995. The Making of Urban Europe, 1000–1994 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
  42. Jacobs, J. 1961. The Death and Life of Great American Cities (New York: Random House).
  43. ——. 1969. The Economy of Cities (New York: Random House).
  44. Jennings, J. 2016. Killing Civilization: A Reassessment of Early Urbanism and its Consequences (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press).
  45. Jennings, J. and T. K. Earle. 2016. ‘Urbanization, State Formation, and Cooperation: A Reappraisal’, Current Anthropology, 57: 47493 <. [Crossref]
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Jervis, B. 2016. ‘Assemblage Theory and Town Formation in Medieval England’, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 26.3: 38195.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Latour, B. 2005. Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
  48. Ljungkvist, J., S. Barthel, G. Finnveden, and S. Sörlin. 2010. ‘The Urban Anthropocene: Lessons for Sustainability from the Environmental History of Constantinople’, in P. Sinclair, G. Nordquist, F. Herschend, and C. Isendahl (eds), The Urban Mind: Cultural and Environmental Dynamics (Uppsala: African and Comparative Archaeology, Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University), pp. 367–90.
  49. McCormick, M. 2007. ‘Where Do Trading Towns Come from? Early Medieval Venice and the Northern Emporia’, in J. Henning (ed.), Post-Roman Towns, Trade and Settlement in Europe and Byzantium, i: The Heirs of the Roman West (Berlin: De Gruyter), pp. 41–68.
  50. Millard, A. R. 1988. ‘The Bevelled-Rim Bowls: Their Purpose and Significance’, Iraq, 50: 49–57.
  51. Moore, T. 2017. ‘Beyond Iron Age “Towns”: Examining Oppida as Examples of Low‐Density Urbanism’, Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 36.3: 287305.
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Naismith, R. 2019. Citadel of the Saxons: The Rise of Early London (London: Bloomsbury).
  53. Naylor, J. 2016. ‘Emporia and their Hinterlands in the 7th to 9th Centuries ad: Some Comments and Observations from England’, in I. Leroy and L. Verslype (eds), Les Cultures des littoraux au haut Moyen Âge: cadres et modes de vie dans l’espace maritime Manche-mer du Nord du iiie au xe s., Revue du Nord, hors série, Collection art et archéologie, 24 (Villeneuve d’Ascq: Revue du Nord), pp. 59–67.
  54. Näsman, U. 2000. ‘Exchange and Politics: The Eighth–Early Ninth Century in Denmark’, in C. Wickham and I. Lyse Hansen (eds), The Long Eighth Century: Production, Distribution and Demand, The Transformation of the Roman World, 11 (Leiden: Brill), pp. 35–68.
  55. Palmer, B. 2003. ‘The Hinterlands of Three Southern English Emporia: Some Common Themes’, in T. Pestell and K. Ulmschneider (eds), Markets in Early Medieval Europe: Trading and ‘Productive’ Sites, 650–850 (Macclesfield: Windgather), pp. 48–60.
  56. Polanyi, K. 1963. ‘Ports of Trade in Early Societies’, The Journal of Economic History, 23.1: 3045.
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Raja, R. and S. M. Sindbæk. 2020. ‘Urban Networks and High-Definition Narratives: Rethinking the Archaeology of Urbanism’, Journal of Urban Archaeology, 2: 17386.
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Scott, A. J. and M. Storper. 2015. ‘The Nature of Cities: The Scope and Limits of Urban Theory’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 39.1: 115.
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Scott, J. C. 2017. Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States (New Haven: Yale University Press).
  60. Sindbæk, S. M. 2007. ‘Networks and Nodal Points: The Emergence of Towns in Early Viking Age Scandinavia’, Antiquity, 81: 11932.
    [Google Scholar]
  61. ——. 2018. ‘Northern Emporium: The Archaeology of Urban Networks in Viking-Age Ribe’, in R. Raja and S. M. Sindbæk (eds), Urban Network Evolutions: Towards a High-Definition Archaeology (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press), pp. 161–66.
  62. ——. 2020. ‘Communities on the Edge: Retracing the Northern Emporia’, in A. Gautier and L. Malbos (eds), Communautés maritimes et insulaires du premier Moyen Âge, Haut Moyen Âge, 38 (Turnhout: Brepols), pp. 127–41.
  63. Skre, D. 2008. ‘Dark Age Towns: The Kaupang Case. Reply to Przemysław Urbańczyk’, Norwegian Archaeological Review, 41.2: 194212.
    [Google Scholar]
  64. Smith, M. E. 2009. ‘V. Gordon Childe and the Urban Revolution: A Historical Perspective on a Revolution in Urban Studies’, The Town Planning Review, 80.1: 329.
    [Google Scholar]
  65. ——. 2019. ‘Energized Crowding and the Generative Role of Settlement Aggregation and Urbanization’, in A. Gyucha (ed.), Coming Together: Comparative Approaches to Population Aggregation and Early Urbanization (Albany: State University of New York Press), pp. 37–58.
  66. ——. 2020. ‘Definitions and Comparisons in Urban Archaeology’, Journal of Urban Archaeology, 1: 1530.
    [Google Scholar]
  67. Smith, M. E., J. Lobo, M. Peeples, A. York, B. Stanley, K. Crawford, N. Gauthier, and A. Huster. 2021. ‘The Persistence of Ancient Settlements and Urban Sustainability’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118.20: e2018155118 <. [Crossref]
  68. Smith, M. E., J. Ur, and G. M. Feinman. 2014. ‘Jane Jacobs’ “Cities First” Model and Archaeological Reality’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 38.4: 152535.
    [Google Scholar]
  69. Smith, M. L. (ed.). 2003. The Social Construction of Ancient Cities (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution).
  70. ——. 2019. Cities: The First 6,000 Years (New York: Viking).
  71. Soja, E. W. 2000. Postmetropolis: Critical Studies of Cities and Regions (Oxford: Blackwell).
  72. Søvsø, M. 2020. Ribe 700–1050: From Emporium to Civitas in Southern Scandinavia (Højbjerg: Jutland Archaeological Society).
  73. Taylor, P. J. 2012. ‘Extraordinary Cities: Early “City-ness” and the Origins of Agriculture and States’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 36: 41547.
    [Google Scholar]
  74. ——. 2013. Extraordinary Cities: Millennia of Moral Syndromes, World-Systems and City/State Relations (Northampton, MA: Elgar).
  75. ——. 2019. ‘City Generics: External Urban Relations in Ancient-Mesopotamian and Modern-Global City Networks’, Urban Geography, 40.8: 121030.
    [Google Scholar]
  76. Tys, D. 2020. ‘Maritime and River Traders, Landing Places, and Emporia Ports in the Merovingian Period in and around the Low Countries’, in B. Effros and I. Moreira (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Merovingian World (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 765–98.
  77. Weber, M. 1966 [1921]. The City, ed. and trans. by D. Martindale and G. Neuwirth, 2nd edn (New York: Free Press, 1966); originally published as ‘Die Stadt’, Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, 47: 621–772.
  78. Wirth, L. 1938. ‘Urbanism as a Way of Life’, American Journal of Sociology, 44: 124.
    [Google Scholar]
  79. Woolf, G. 2020. The Life and Death of Ancient Cities: A Natural History (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
/content/journals/10.1484/J.JUA.5.129841
Loading
  • Article Type: Research Article
This is a required field.
Please enter a valid email address.
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An error occurred.
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error:
Please enter a valid_number test
aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYnJlcG9sc29ubGluZS5uZXQv