Definition: The branch of archaeological science called urban archaeology is 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. 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 part of the
Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of
Kris Hirst.
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