Leveraging a suite of remote sensing technologies deployed over large areas, this paper presents results that challenge long-held ideas about the origin and development of the world’s oldest urban centers, in southern Iraq. The standard model of third millennium BCE Mesopotamian cities presents them as nuclear, compact settlements set within an irrigated agricultural hinterland, expanding continuously from a monumental religious complex. This reconstruction holds enormous influence in the comparative global study of early urbanism. UAV photos and magnetic gradiometry data captured at Lagash (Tell al-Hiba) show dense architecture and related paleoenvironmental features over c. 300 ha, revealing a city that does not conform to the standard model. Early Dynastic Lagash (2900–2350 BCE) was composed of spatially discrete sectors bounded by multiple surrounding walls and/or watercourses and separated by open spaces. The evidence is suggestive of a marshy or watery local environment, and the city sectors may have originated as marsh islands. The discontinuous, walled nature of inhabited areas would have had social and logistical ramifications for city inhabitants. A number of contemporary sites are characterized by multiple archaeological mounds, suggesting that early southern Mesopotamian cities may have frequently been spatially multi-centric.

利用在大面积部署的一套遥感技术，本文提出的结果挑战了长期以来关于伊拉克南部世界上最古老的城市中心的起源和发展的想法。公元前三千年美索不达米亚城市的标准模型将它们描述为位于灌溉农业腹地内的紧凑型核聚居地，从巨大的宗教建筑群不断扩展。这种重建对早期城市主义的全球比较研究产生了巨大影响。在 Lagash (Tell al-Hiba) 拍摄的无人机照片和磁梯度测量数据显示了 c. 上的密集建筑和相关的古环境特征。300公顷，揭示了一个不符合标准模型的城市。早期王朝拉加什（公元前 2900-2350 年）由空间离散的扇区组成，这些扇区由多个周围的墙壁和/或水道界定，并由开放空间隔开。证据表明当地有沼泽或水域环境，城市部分可能起源于沼泽岛屿。居住区不连续的围墙性质会对城市居民产生社会和后勤影响。许多当代遗址以多个考古土丘为特征，这表明早期的美索不达米亚南部城市可能经常在空间上是多中心的。居住区的围墙性质会对城市居民产生社会和后勤影响。许多当代遗址以多个考古土丘为特征，这表明早期的美索不达米亚南部城市可能经常在空间上是多中心的。居住区的围墙性质会对城市居民产生社会和后勤影响。许多当代遗址以多个考古土丘为特征，这表明早期的美索不达米亚南部城市可能经常在空间上是多中心的。