This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
This research combines traditional archaeological analysis with lidar data to investigate infrastructure, residential architecture, and neighborhoods in a completely new way. Taken together, these analyses show the shape and form of this city during its apogee in CE 650, while providing a deeper understanding of its civic administration through the…
This research combines traditional archaeological analysis with lidar data to investigate infrastructure, residential architecture, and neighborhoods in a completely new way. Taken together, these analyses show the shape and form of this city during its apogee in CE 650, while providing a deeper understanding of its civic administration through the use of multiple urban levels (citywide, district, neighborhood, and residential/plazuela). Independently, any one of these results may provide an incomplete picture or inaccurate conclusion, but, when conjoined, the analyses interdigitate to shed light on the city as a whole. This research showcases the physical infrastructural power of this city through the widespread distribution of its urban services among the city’s districts while still highlighting tiers of urban services among districts. It reinforces the idea of household architectural autonomy through the lack of standardization in the built environment, while also highlighting the relative equality of residences. And, it emphasizes both citywide and neighborhood-based similarities in categorical identities that would have facilitated collective action among individuals in the past by reducing the friction to initiate collective endeavors. Taken together, these results suggest both autocratic and collective governance, and views from different urban levels when combined provide a more detailed perspective on the multiple interacting and concurrent processes that determined urban life and structure in the past. These analyses also hold the potential to shed light on other governance practices in future comparative urban research on archaeological, historical, and modern cities. However, the initial findings reported in this dissertation suggest that Caracol enjoyed a more collective system of governance processes despite the hieroglyphic record of a lineage of rulers.
