New research suggests ancient cities might not have been much different from the ones that exist today. It says ancient cities also experienced the predictable mathematical phenomenon called "urban scaling."

Some 500 years ago, the mighty Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan was similar to New York today, or any major city for that matter. They're both cities that grew under the same rules, independent of political or economic systems.

Like Us on Facebook

Previous research has shown that as modern cities grow in population, so does their productivity and efficiency.

"Our results suggest that the general ingredients of productivity and population density in human societies run much deeper and have everything to do with the challenges and opportunities of organizing human social networks," said Professor Luis Bettencourt, lead investigator of SFI's Cities, Scaling, and Sustainability research program.

To attain their findings, a team of researchers looked at archaeological data from the Basin of Mexico, which is now Mexico City, and the surrounding regions. They analyzed the dimensions of hundreds of ancient temples, as well as thousands of houses to determine population size and density throughout history.

The team was also able to estimate the construction rate of the structures and how often they were used. The findings indicated the larger the ancient settlement, the more productive it was.

Scott Ortman, an assistant professor in the department of anthropology at Colorado University-Boulder and a former Institute Omidyar Fellow, said they were shocked to find out those fundamental drivers of robust socioeconomic patterns (capitalism, industrialization and democracy) shaped the modern cities we know.

Researchers are also planning to look at settlement patterns in other ancient sites around Peru, China and Europe in hopes of finding more evidence supporting the phenomenon.

The research appeared in a recent edition of the journal Science Advances.

Tagsancient cities, urban scaling, modern cities, Mexico City, New York City, Archaeology, capitalism, industrialization, democracy