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@Oliver Schick
A nice article on some of the biggest ancient 'cities' and their dispersed settlement patterns, as increasingly understood through remote sensing techniques.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/jun/22/the-real-urban-jungle-how-ancient-societies-reimagined-what-cities-could-be
I rather see it as reflective of the way people wanted to live when there were no, or few, significant political security threats, probably owing to an abundance of resources. We haven't found many fortifications in the Maya lands, for instance, only on strategic mountain passes and seemingly constructed late, perhaps when the resource wars started and people scrambled to defend such key connections. The 'Harappan' civilisation along the former course of the Indus (or whatever it was before it changed course) likewise had no discernible fortifications, and weapons haven't been found. It seems that people wanted to live spaced reasonably far apart, with their own land to work around their houses, and with central functions limited to religious or public buildings.
Also interesting to read about an estimate of 20 million for the population of 'Amazonia' pre-catastrophe (probably smallpox). I'd guess that as more evidence is found, this, too, will have to be revised upwards. In the coming decades, I think we'll see a fascinating and gruesome story unfolding of a gigantic humanitarian catastrophe that was either completely hushed up by 'colonial' powers or not noticed by them as it played out in remote areas.