Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T02:51:54.456Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Spatial Logic and Maya City Planning: The Case for Cosmology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2015

Kristin Landau*
Affiliation:
Northwestern University, Department of Anthropology, 1810 Hinman Avenue, Evanston, IL 60208, USA Email: kvlandau@u.northwestern.edu

Abstract

Spatial logics are guiding ideals for how space should be structured, as determined by the culturally embedded decisions of architects and builders. I test various spatial logics within sub-communities at the city of Copan, Honduras, to better understand principles behind the planning of paired groups. Results support a prevailing cosmological logic, in keeping with work on concepts of directionality, and particularly with the significance of north and salience of a north–south building axis. The anthropology of space and place has gained much from an increased reliance on archaeological literature, as well as the closely related fields of geography and empirical Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyses. Because we shape and are shaped by landscapes, consideration of spatial relationships should help us evaluate and refine our conceptions of social relations.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)