Urban Inequalities Workshop
Dr. David Carballo: Social Inequality and Community Archaeology at America’s First Metropolis: Teotihuacan, Mexico
By Carly Berke
For the past three years, the Initiative on Cities has hosted the Urban Inequalities Workshop, a space where faculty and PhD students are invited to lead open discussions on their current research.
The Urban Inequalities Workshop approaches the topic of urban inequality from different disciplinary, methodological, and theoretical angles. Presentations are led by doctoral students or faculty.
On Friday, November 9th, Dr. David Carballo, an Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology and Latin American Studies, presented on his archaeological work in the ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan. His presentation, entitled “Social Inequality and Community Archaeology at America’s First Metropolis: Teotihuacan, Mexico,” discussed his excavations and how they are used to determine the socioeconomic structure of and distribution of wealth within the ancient civilization.
Existing between 2000-2500 years ago near modern day Mexico City, Teotihuacan was the largest city in the ancient Americas. Dr. Carballo and his team are excavating within two sites: the Tlajinga district, a group of neighborhoods along the southern periphery, and what is called the Plaza of the Columns, or the palatial center of the city.
Teotihuacan’s Gini Index, a numerical measure of the concentration of wealth in a society, is one of the lowest Gini Coefficients ever recorded in history: 0.12. In comparison, traditional republics fall around 0.14, imperial republics 0.19, and historical monarchies between 0.44-0.54. Its relatively equal distribution of wealth can be determined through several archaeological findings.
One indicator that Dr. Carballo and his team use is stature, or the height of male human remains. Stature was often a reflection of diet — higher class individuals who had access to healthier and more nutritious foods often measured taller than lower class, poorer individuals. Whereas some highly stratified ancient civilizations, like Rome, produced great differences in stature between its classes, the heights of Teotihuacan remains were much more similar in size. Burials themselves are also indications of unequal wealth, with upper class elites usually laid to rest in more elaborate tombs, but in Teotihuacan, no such lavish burials have been discovered.
Additionally, living space is an important indication of the distribution of wealth. Out of a population of roughly 135,000 in Teotihuacan, 80-90% lived in apartment-style housing developments — the only human city to achieve this type of urban development in the pre-industrial era. Variability in living space and size is used to determine the quality of construction and the labor it would take to make it. Lower-intermediate status households usually had about 220 m2/household, while intermediate households measured around 510 m2/household. These calculations were later used to derive the Gini Coefficient.
Reclaimed artifacts also reflect the relative distribution of wealth across the population. Excavations that produced artisan pottery, shells, masks, and nice utensils and tools revealed that commoners had access to imported goods and were tapping into a larger regional market. Household specialization, for instance, pertaining to obsidian cutting tools and ornamental metals, permitted even commoners access to finer items.
By mapping the socioeconomic structure of ancient human societies and analyzing the factors that accounted for the relative equality or inequality across its population, we can gain a better perspective on the inequality issues that plague contemporary cities, argues Dr. Carballo.
“I don’t think you can understand any social phenomenon without a robust data set to map the history to create a comparison,” he said. “It allows us to have a historical trajectory for the baselines of pre-industrial society.”
Dr. Carballo is a recipient of a 2018 Urban Research Award, a seed grant offered by the IOC to support community development research in its early stages. His excavations in Teotihuacan are designed to engage local residents with scientific investigation and expand their interest in preservation efforts. Teotihuacan is a UNESCO World Heritage site, but its preservation has been affected by expanding construction on the outskirts of Mexico City. Community members have received access to interactive presentations that contextualize the research at Teotihuacan, and Dr. Carballo meets with several residents and stakeholders to discuss their concerns and formulate future plans for research and preservation.
The next Urban Inequalities Workshop is on November 30th and will be led by Ladin Bayurgil, a PhD candidate who will present on urban transformation in Istanbul. For more information on the workshop series, you can contact Associate Professor of Sociology and past IOC Advisory Board Member Japonica Brown-Saracino, or graduate student coordinator Ladin Bayurgil.