Spatial Autocorrelation and the Classic Maya Collapse: One Technique, One Conclusion

A pair of articles appearing recently in this journal (Whitley & Clark, Journal of Archaeological Science12, 377-395, 1985; Kvamme, Journal of Archaeological Science17, 197-207, 1990) apply spatial autocorrelation analysis to the distribution of terminal long-count dates from southern Lowland Classic Maya monuments. The authors employ similar techniques yet arrive at contradictory conclusions regarding the presence of geographical patterning in the collapse of the Classic Maya civilization in this region. Kvamme's contention, however, that Whitley & Clark conducted an inappropriate analysis and arrived at an erroneous conclusion is unsubstantiated. Both articles present appropriate analyses and report results which support the presence of spatial patterning in the Lowland Maya dates.     

Anarchy,Geography and Drift

Abstract: The consumerist economies of the late modern city, in combination with contemporary models of urban policing, operate to close down the public spaces of social life. In response, social groups dedicated to democratic urbanism utilize anarchic tactics of “dis‐organization” and direct action to reopen public space and to revitalize it with unregulated activity. Complicating and animating these spatial conflicts is the issue of drift. On the one hand, consumerist economies and contemporary policing strategies exacerbate urban drift, spawning the very sorts of spatial transgression they seek to control. On the other hand, many of the progressive movements that battle for open space and alternative economic arrangements themselves embrace a culture of drift, and explore drift for its anarchic and progressive potential. In this context drift can usefully be investigated as an emergent form of epistemology, community, and spatial politics.