M.A.R.I. Lunch Talk

We are pleased to announce the first session of our 2025-2026 M.A.R.I. Lunch Talk Series. This Friday, August 29, at noon, Dr. Adrian S.Z. Chase (2025-2026 Doris Stone Post-Doctoral Fellow, Middle American Research Institute) will present "Three Times a City: The Intersection of Urbanism, Archaeology, and Computational Research at Caracol, Belize."

More information: https://shorturl.at/fu6ns

Abstract: What is a city? Multiple disciplines beyond archaeology have discussed, debated, and developed multiple methods, paradigms, and ways of knowing what is and is not a city. The resulting cornucopia of definitions has created a cacophony of ideas and led to theoretical paradigms that talk past each other. Some cities sprawled and created multiple nodes while others existed only as dense concentrations around a single center. Some cities integrated agricultural fields into their urban fabric while others kept the farmlands within a short walk from households. However, a few key aspects of urbanism exist, and using these provides insights into urban form – especially the ways that settlements and urban processes affect their landscapes creating fully anthropogenic built environments. Recent research from the garden city of Caracol, Belize the intersection of urban, archaeological, and computational research has yielded new perspectives on settlement systems and city form with implications for other ancient, historical, and modern cities.

M.A.R.I. Lunch Talks invite guest speakers to host seminars at M.A.R.I. on a wide variety of topics related to the archaeology, history, and ethnography of Mesoamerica and other world areas. The events typically take place on Fridays around noon and can be delivered in English and Spanish.