The concept of low-density urbanism has developed in archaeology over the past 20 years to characterize settlements that display the same types of features as nucleated cities (monumental architecture, services provided for a hinterland, division of labor, class differences) but lack dense populations. Ancient cities that emerged in tropical regions typically resemble a distributed urban network (Scarborough and Isendahl 2020) with interconnected and regularly spaced monumental nodes scattered among dispersed residences and agricultural land. The monumental nodes in the region did not permanently house dense populations but drew the countryside into a habitual pattern of centripetal movement to frequent religious, economic, and administrative services provided there. We demonstrate that the Gulf lowlands of Mexico exemplify this type of urbanism, and we highlight its features related to land use, governance, and longevity. Given the formidable challenges of understanding a distributed urban network, we advocate approaches that do not impose hierarchical interpretations or discrete territories but, rather, explore them as a network of places.

在过去的 20 年中，考古学中发展了低密度城市主义的概念，以描述具有与核心城市相同类型的特征（纪念性建筑、为腹地提供的服务、劳动分工、阶级差异）但缺乏密集人口的定居点. 出现在热带地区的古代城市通常类似于分布式城市网络（Scarborough 和 Isendahl 2020），具有相互连接且规则间隔的纪念性节点分散在分散的住宅和农田中。该地区的纪念性节点并没有永久容纳密集的人口，而是将农村带入了一种向心运动的习惯模式，以在那里提供频繁的宗教、经济和行政服务。我们证明墨西哥的海湾低地体现了这种类型的都市主义，我们强调其与土地利用、治理和寿命相关的特征。鉴于理解分布式城市网络的巨大挑战，我们提倡不强加等级解释或离散区域的方法，而是将它们作为一个地点网络进行探索。