At www.sciencenews.org/article/ancient-urban-megasites-may-reshape-history-… … ancient 'megasites' may reshape what we think is the history of urban life – and how towns and cities evolved. The spotlight is on a small village in the Ukraine set amidst rolling hills and green fields. It seems it was not always a quiet back alley. Beneath the surface of the surrounding landscape there are the remnants of a megasite – a spaced out settlement unlike a town or city archaeologists might usually find on mounds and tells. It is now thought, by some archaeologists, and by no means all of them, such settlements represent a distinct example of urban life (without alleys and buildings overlooking each other). In this instance, the megasite belongs to the Tripillia culture, located between the Southern Bug river and the Dneiper.
… the broader definition of the culture is Cucuteni-Trypillia and it extended from the Carpathian Mountains to the Dneiper with especially dense settlement in Moldavia. It is dated between 5400 and 2700BC.
An increasing number of arcaheological sites in Asia, Europe and the Americas are being classified as low density urban centres – somewhat like the oppidum of pre Roman southern Britain and Gaul. Aerial laser mapping has recorded a number of massive urban spread at Angkor in Cambodia and at Mayan ssites in central America.