Expert: John Shea - 12/13/2002

Question
Hi,

I was wandering if you can help me with couple of anthropology terms and their meaning in relation to anthropology:

- Urban Center

- Emergence

Thank you,
Mario

Answer
Mario,
I'm answering as an archaeologist.  Other anthropologists who work with living humans may give you different answers.
Urban center -permanent aggregation of >20,000 people, typically the center of political power, transport systems and economic activity.  In ancient states these were usually fortified.  Earliest of these appear around 5000 years ago in Mesopotamia (Sumer).  Urban centers are typically associated with state-level societies and market economies.
Emergence - this a metaphor for the gradual appearance of a pattern among samples arranged in a chronological sequence.  Anthropologists often use this term as a synonym for directional selection in behavioral change or biological evolution. For example: Urban centers are often described as "emerging" from the centers of chiefdoms or Homo sapiens is said to have emerged from late Middle Pleistocene humans.
Cheers,
John Shea