Urban archaeology is the branch of archaeological science concerned with the study of cities. Cities first arose about 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia.
Archaeologists define a city by population size (greater than 5000 people), and the existence of centralized political structure, craft specialists, complex economies, and social stratification. To understand more about what makes a complex society, see Characteristics of Ancient Civilizations.
Urban Archaeology Logistics
Urban archaeology has special problems not seen in other forms of archaeology, particularly in cities with long occupation histories, where landfills, reuse, and rebuilding have created massive amounts of artifacts and extremely complex stratigraphic levels. Such thick deposits collected over many hundreds or thousands of years are called tels.
Methods to cope with urban complexity include sampling strategies, heavy equipment to remove overburden, and the Harris Matrix to track archaeological components. The first urban archaeology project was probably at Pompeii during the 18th century.
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com Guide to the Subdisciplines of Archaeology, and part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.
