Weak Ties and Strange Attractors:Anomalocivitasand the Archaeology of Urban Origins

Abstract

This paper offers three figures of thought for research on the origin of urban places and societies. As an alternative to linear, evolutionary models of urbanization, I propose to see the formation of urbanism as an evolving field guided by ‘strange attractors’, which tend to converge towards particular constellations of practices and institutions. In this view, the study of ‘odd’ urban sites and societies, anomalocivitates, which have reached unusual constellations, can be revealing. A key attractor for urban societies is so-called ‘weak ties’, connections that reach beyond close social clusters. I suggest ways to study urban sites from the point of view of evolving social networks. To illustrate these concepts, the paper discusses coastal and riverine trading ports, emporia in northern Europe in the eighth-tenth centuries ad.