The peoples of southern Mesoamerica, including the Classic period Maya, are often claimed to exhibit a distinct type of spatial organization relative to contemporary urban systems. Here, we use the settlement scaling framework and properties of settlements recorded in systematic, full-coverage surveys to examine ways in which southern Mesoamerican settlement systems were both similar to and different from contemporary systems. We find that the population-area relationship in these settlements differs greatly from that reported for other agrarian settlement systems, but that more typical patterns emerge when one considers a site epicenter as the relevant social interaction area, and the population administered from a given center as the relevant interacting population. Our results imply that southern Mesoamerican populations mixed socially at a slower temporal rhythm than is typical of contemporary systems. Residential locations reflected the need to balance energetic and transport costs of farming with lower-frequency costs of commuting to central places. Nevertheless, increasing returns in activities such as civic construction were still realized through lower-frequency social mixing. These findings suggest that the primary difference between low-density urbanism and contemporary urban systems lies in the spatial and temporal rhythms of social mixing.

中文翻译：

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经典时期玛雅和伊萨帕的低密度城市系统：聚落规模理论的见解

中美洲南部的人民，包括古典时期的玛雅人，通常被认为表现出与当代城市系统相关的独特类型的空间组织。在这里，我们使用系统的全覆盖调查中记录的定居扩展框架和定居属性来检查中美洲南部定居系统与当代系统相似和不同的方式。我们发现，这些定居点中的人口-面积关系与其他农业定居点系统的报告有很大不同，但是当人们将站点震中视为相关的社会互动区域时，会出现更典型的模式，并且从给定中心管理的人口为相关的互动人群。我们的研究结果表明，中美洲南部人口在社会上混合的时间节奏比当代系统的典型时间节奏慢。住宅区反映了需要平衡农业的能源和运输成本与通勤到中心地区的频率较低的成本。尽管如此，市民建设等活动的收益递增仍然是通过较低频率的社会混合来实现的。这些发现表明，低密度城市主义与当代城市系统之间的主要区别在于社会混合的空间和时间节奏。市民建设等活动的收益递增仍然是通过较低频率的社会混合来实现的。这些发现表明，低密度城市主义与当代城市系统之间的主要区别在于社会混合的空间和时间节奏。市民建设等活动的收益递增仍然是通过较低频率的社会混合来实现的。这些发现表明，低密度城市主义与当代城市系统之间的主要区别在于社会混合的空间和时间节奏。