| Abstract: |
Urban clusters were the dominant form of cities along the Middle Niger (West Africa) from the inception of urbanism in the first centuries B. C. Many discrete habitation mounds, in close proximity, were occupied simultaneously and together functioned as home to a heterogeneous population that provided diverse services to a wider hinterland. Remarkably similar settlement processes characterized late Neolithic and early Bronze Age China. An examination of why the urban character of these cities was for so long nearly invisible to archaeologists serves to reveal the value-laden nature of our theories about urbanization. A brief review of traditional social thought about the role of early cities illustrates the ways in which the character of urban clusters deviate from scholars' traditional expectations of the physical plan of cities. Such expectations of the underlying social dynamics of early cities presumed the imposition of a coercive state apparatus forcing a heterogeneous population to crowd together, facilitating central control. This article illustrates other mechanisms by which the potential for conflict between corporate groups could have been reduced. The ambiguity of membership had to be resolved and prevented from growing intolerable as former villages became increasingly pluralistic. The elements of urban clusters served as symbols communicating a sense of corporate belonging and, by resolving ambiguities, contributed to the success of early urbanism.
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