Ancient cities developed according to the same mathematical laws as modern

A study of ancient Mexican settlements revealed a marked similarity between pre-Columbian and modern cities. This proves that the laws of urban development are universal and are derived from the principles of social interaction of people, and not under the influence of modern culture and civilization.

Previous studies have shown that with an increase in population, the efficiency and productivity of modern cities grows. For example, the production of goods grows faster than the population. Moreover, this law demonstrates an amazing mathematical pattern. The phenomenon was called urban scaling.

For example, with a doubling of the population, the average salary of each resident increases by 15% (although crime also increases, this is an inevitable side effect).
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Scientists from the Santa Fe Institute and the University of Colorado at Boulder decided to check whether the same mathematical law is observed in the cities of ancient civilizations. To do this, they explored research in the environs of Mexico City, where archaeological layers of various cultural layers were found on an area of ​​4,000 km ² that show the development of cities over the course of 2,000 years: from 500 BC. before 1500

A group of researchers analyzed the sizes of hundreds of ancient churches and thousands of residential buildings to estimate the approximate size and density of the population. They determined the speed of construction of monuments and buildings, as well as the intensity of the use of infrastructure.

The results, published in February 2015 in the journal Science Advances , confirm the hypothesis made. The efficiency and productivity of the ancient cities also increased at a faster pace with increasing population.



“It's amazing and incredible,” said Scott Ortman, a professor at the anthropology department at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and one of the authors of the scientific work. “We have always been told that thanks to capitalism, industrialization and democracy, the modern world is very different from ancient civilizations.” But we found that the fundamental laws for reliable socio-economic models for the development of modern cities appeared long before all this. ”

The authors acknowledge that exploring the cities around Mexico City is only the first step. In the near future, they are going to check the mathematical model at the excavations in Peru, China and Europe.