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.

低密度城市化的概念在过去20年中在考古学中得到发展，旨在描述具有与核心城市相同类型特征（纪念性建筑、为腹地提供的服务、劳动分工、阶级差异）但缺乏密集人口的聚落。热带地区出现的古城通常类似于一个分布式城市网络（Scarborough 和 Isendahl 2020），具有相互连接且间隔规则的纪念性节点，散布在分散的住宅和农田中。该地区的纪念性节点并没有永久居住密集的人口，而是将乡村带入一种向心运动的习惯模式，以提供频繁的宗教、经济和行政服务。我们证明墨西哥湾低地是这种类型城市化的典范，并强调其与土地利用、治理和寿命相关的特征。考虑到理解分布式城市网络的巨大挑战，我们提倡不要强加等级解释或离散领土的方法，而是将它们作为地方网络进行探索。