Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T11:15:32.222Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Locating and Dating Sites Using Lidar Survey in a Mosaic Landscape in Western Belize

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2017

Jason Yaeger
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249. [email protected]
M. Kathryn Brown
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249. [email protected]
Bernadette Cap
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249. [email protected]

Abstract

We use the results of a high-resolution lidar survey to assess the advantages and limitations of archaeological applications of lidar data and address some of its methodological challenges. Our data come from the Mopan and Macal River valleys in western Belize, a region that includes several ancient Maya political centers and their hinterlands. Visual inspection of the lidar data has revealed many new sites and new features at previously mapped sites, and these findings significantly enhance our understanding of the valley's cultural history and political dynamics. By comparing data from prior systematic pedestrian surveys, visual and TPI analysis of the lidar data, and analysis of other remotely sensed data, we assess the limits of mound visibility in the lidar data and examine how vegetation and topographic factors impact those limits. We also present slope analysis as a useful tool for predicting whether mounds were constructed in the Preclassic period (1000 B.C.–A.D. 250) or the Classic period (A.D. 250–900).

Por medio de la presentación de los resultados de un recorrido de lidar, se discuten las ventajas y desventajas de aplicaciones de lidar a cuestionantes arqueológicas y se presentan algunos retos de metodología. El estudio se ubica en los valles de los ríos Mopan y Macal en la región occidental de Belice, zona que incluye múltiples centros políticos y sus zonas adyacentes. Análisis visual de los datos de lidar revela nuevos sitios y nuevos rasgos arqueológicos en sitios ya investigados, los cuales nos brindan nuevos modelos de la historia cultural de la valle tanto como su dinámica política. Al comparar los resultados de recorridos sistemáticos terrestres con los análisis visuales y índice de posición topográfico (TPI) de los datos de lidar y otros datos remotos, se examina los límites mínimos de la identificación de rasgos y las maneras en las cuales factores de vegetación y topografía se juega con tales límites. Un análisis de las inclinaciones de montículos sugiere que la inclinación se puede utilizar como un factor predictivo de la edad del montículo, porque los montículos de la época Preclásica (1000 a.C. a 250 d.C.) presentan un declive menor en comparación con los de la época Clásica (250 d.C. a 900 d.C.).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2016

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Adams, Richard E. W., Brown, W. E., and Culbert, T. Patrick 1981 Radar Mapping, Archaeology, and Ancient Maya Land Use. Science 213:14571463.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aimers, James J. 2004 The Terminal Classic to Postclassic Transition in the Belize Valley. In The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley: Half a Century of Archaeological Research, edited by Garber, James F., pp. 305319. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Ashmore, Wendy 1994 Settlement Archaeology at Xunantunich, Belize, Central America. Xunantunich Archaeological Project: The 1994 Season. Submitted to the Institute of Archaeology, Belize.Google Scholar
Ashmore, Wendy 1998 Monumentos políticos: Sitios, asentamiento, y paisaje por Xunantunich, Belice. Anatomía de una Civilización: Aproximaciones Interdisciplinarias a la Cultura Maya, edited by Ruiz, Andrés Ciudad, Marquínez, Yolanda Fernández, García Campillo, José M., de León, A. Josefa Iglesia Ponce, García-Gallo, Alfonso L., and Sanz Castro, Luís T., pp. 161183. Publicaciones de la SEEM No. 4. Sociedad Española de Estudios Mayas, Madrid.Google Scholar
Awe, Jaime J. 1992 Dawn in the Land between the Rivers: Formative Occupation at Cahal Pech, Belize and Its Implications for Preclassic Occupation in the Central Maya Lowlands. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Institute of Archaeology, University of London.Google Scholar
Ball, Joseph W., and Taschek, Jennifer T. 1991 Late Classic Lowland Maya Political Organization and Central-Place Analysis. Ancient Mesoamerica 2:149165.Google Scholar
Ball, Joseph W., and Taschek, Jennifer T. 2004 Buenavista del Cayo: A Short Outline of Occupational and Cultural History at an Upper Belize Valley Regal-Ritual Center. In The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley: Half a Century of Archaeological Research, edited by Garber, James F., pp. 149167. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Braswell, Jennifer D. 1998 Archaeological Investigations at Group D, Xunantunich, Belize. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Tulane University.Google Scholar
Brisbin, Shawn M. 1994 Surveying the Periphery: Survey Methodology and Approach in the Periphery of Cahal Pech, Belize. Belize Valley Preclassic Maya Project: Report of the 1994 Season. Submitted to the Institute of Archaeology, Belize.Google Scholar
Brown, M. Kathryn 2008 Establishing Hierarchies in the Belize River Valley. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 5:175183.Google Scholar
Brown, M. Kathryn 2011 Postclassic Veneration at Xunantunich, Belize. Mexicon 33:126131.Google Scholar
Brown, M. Kathryn 2013 Missing Persons: The Role of Ancestors in the Rise of Complexity. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 10:5764.Google Scholar
Brown, M. Kathryn 2016 E-Groups and Ancestors: The Sunrise of Complexity at Xunantunich, Belize. In Early Maya E-Groups, Solar Calendars, and the Role of Astronomy in the Rise of Lowland Maya Urbanism, edited by Freidel, David, Chase, Arlen F., Chase, Diane Z., and Dowd, Anne. University Press of Florida, Orlando, in press.Google Scholar
Brown, M. Kathryn, Awe, Jaime, and Garber, James F. 2017 The Role of Ritual and Religion in the Foundation of Social Complexity in the Belize River Valley. In Pathways to Complexity: The Preclassic in the Maya Lowlands, edited by Brown, M. Kathryn and Bey, George III. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, in press.Google Scholar
Brown, M. Kathryn, and Garber, James F. 2003 Evidence of Middle Preclassic Conflict: A View from Blackman Eddy, Belize. In Ancient Mesoamerican Warfare, edited by Brown, M. Kathryn and Stanton, Travis W., pp. 91108. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek.Google Scholar
Cap, Bernadette 2015 Classic Maya Economies: Identification of a Marketplace at Buenavista del Cayo, Belize. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison.Google Scholar
Chase, Arlen F., and Chase, Diane Z. 1995 External Impetus, Internal Synthesis, and Standardization: E-Group Assemblages and the Crystallization of Classic Maya Society in the Southern Lowlands. In The Emergence of Maya Civilization: The Transition from the Preclassic to the Early Classic, edited by Grube, Nikolai, pp. 87101. Acta Mesoamericana, Vol. 8. Verlag Anton Saurwein.Google Scholar
Chase, Arlen F. Chase, Diane Z., Awe, Jaime J, Weishampel, John F., Iannone, Gyles, Moyes, Holley, Yaeger, Jason, Brown, M. Kathryn, Shrestha, Ramesh L., Carter, William E., and Fernández-Díaz, Juan 2014a Ancient Maya Regional Settlement and Inter-site Analysis: The 2013 West-Central Belize LIDAR Survey. Remote Sensing 6:86718695.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chase, Arlen F. Chase, Diane Z., Awe, Jaime J, Weishampel, John F., Iannone, Gyles, Moyes, Holley, Yaeger, Jason, M. Kathryn Brown, Shrestha, Ramesh L., Carter, William E., and Fernández-Díaz, Juan 2014b The Use of LiDAR in Understanding the Ancient Maya Landscape: Caracol and Western Belize. Advances in Archaeological Practice 2:208220.Google Scholar
Chase, Arlen F., Chase, Diane Z., Weishampel, John F., Drake, Jason B., Shrestha, Ramesh L., Slatton, K. Clint, Awe, Jaime J., and Carter, William E. 2010 Airborne LiDAR, Archaeology, and the Ancient Maya Landscape at Caracol, Belize. Journal of Archaeological Science 38:387398 Google Scholar
Connell, Samuel V. 2000 Were They Well Connected? An Exploration of Ancient Maya Regional Integration from the Middle-Level Perspective of Chaa Creek, Belize. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California-Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A., O’Mansky, Matt, Wolley, Claudia, Van Tuerenhout, Dirk, Inomata, Takeshi, Palka, Joel, and Escobedo, Héctor 1997 Classic Maya Defensive Systems and Warfare in the Petexbatun Region: Archaeological Evidence and Interpretations. Ancient Mesoamerica 8:229253.Google Scholar
Ford, Anabel 1985 Maya Settlement Pattern Chronology in the Belize River Area and the Implications for the Development of the Central Maya Lowlands. Belcast Journal of Belizean Affairs 2(2):1332.Google Scholar
Garber, James F., Brown, M. Kathryn, Awe, Jaime J., and Hartman, Christopher J. 2004 Middle Formative Prehistory of the Central Belize Valley: An Examination of Architecture, Material Culture, and Sociopolitical Change at Blackman Eddy. In The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley: Half a Century of Archaeological Research, edited by Garber, James F., pp. 2547. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Garrison, Thomas G. 2010 Remote Sensing Ancient Maya Rural Populations Using QuickBird Satellite Imagery. International Journal of Remote Sensing 31:213231.Google Scholar
Gould, Samuel B., Glenn, Nancy F., Sankey, Temuulen T., and McNamara, James P. 2013 Influence of a Dense, Low-Height Shrub Species on the Accuracy of a LiDAR-Derived DEM. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 79:421431.Google Scholar
Graham, Elizabeth A., Jones, Grant D., and Kautz, Robert R. 1985 Archaeology and Ethnohistory on a Spanish Colonial Frontier: An Interim Report on the Macal-Tipu Project in Western Belize. In The Lowland Maya Postclassic, edited by Chase, Arlen F. and Rice, Prudence M., pp. 206214. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Holley, George R., Dalan, Rinita A., Woods, William I., and Watters, Harold W. Jr. 2000 Implications of a Buried Preclassic Site in Western Belize. In Mounds, Modoc, and Mesoamerica: Papers in Honor of Melvin L. Fowler, edited by Ahler, Steven R., pp. 111124. Illinois State Museum Scientific Papers Vol. 28. Springfield.Google Scholar
Iannone, Gyles J. 1996 Problems in the Study of Ancient Maya Settlement and Social Organisation: Insights from the “Minor Centre” of Zubin, Cayo District, Belize. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Institute of Archaeology, University College London.Google Scholar
Iannone, Gyles J. 2004 “Minor Centers” in the Upper Belize River Region: Problems in Definition and Interpretation. In Archaeology of the Belize Valley: Half a Century of Maya Settlement Pattern Studies, edited by Garber, James F., pp. 273286. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, Triadan, Daniela, Aoyama, Kazuo, Castillo, Victor, and Yonenobu, Hitoshi 2013 Early Ceremonial Constructions at Ceibal, Guatemala, and the Origins of Lowland Maya Civilization. Science 340(6131):467471.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jenness, Jeff 2006 Topographic Position Index (tpi_jen.avx) extension for ArcView 3.x, v. 1.2. Electronic document, http://www.jennessent.com/arcview/tpi.htm, accessed December 4, 2015.Google Scholar
Johnston, Kevin J. 2004 The “Invisible” Maya: Minimally Mounded Residential Settlement at Itzán, Petén, Guatemala. Latin American Antiquity 15:145175.Google Scholar
Killpack, Patrick C. 1997 Mindful of the Midden and Soil: The 1997 Field Season at X-ual-canil. The Social Archaeology Research Program: Progress Report of the Third (1997) Season. Submitted to the Institute of Archaeology, Belize.Google Scholar
Kurnick, Sarah 2013 Negotiating the Contradictions of Political Authority: An Archaeological Case Study from Callar Creek, Belize. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Liu, Xiaoye 2008 Airborne LiDAR for DEM generation: Some Critical Issues. Progress in Physical Geography 32:3149.Google Scholar
Lu, Xingcheng, Guo, Qinghua, Li, Wenkai, and Flanagan, Jacob 2014 A Bottom-Up Approach to Segment Individual Deciduous Trees Using Leaf-Off LIDAR Point Cloud Data. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 94:112.Google Scholar
Lohse, Jon C., Awe, Jaime, Griffith, Cameron, Rosenswig, Robert M., and Valdez, Fred Jr. 2006 Preceramic Occupations in Belize: Updating the Paleoindian and Archaic Record. Latin American Antiquity 17:209226.Google Scholar
McGovern, James O. 2004 Monumental Ceremonial Architecture and Political Autonomy at the Ancient Maya City of Actuncan, Belize. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California-Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Masini, Nicola, and Lasaponara, Rosa 2013 Airborne LIDAR in Archaeology: Overview and a Case Study. Computational Science and Its Applications 7972:663676.Google Scholar
Moyes, Holley, and Montgomery, Shane 2016 Mapping Ritual Landscapes using Lidar: Cave Detection through Local Relief Modeling. Advances in Archaeological Practice 4(3):249267.Google Scholar
Neff, L. Theodore, Robin, Cynthia, Schwarz, Kevin, and Morrison, Mary K. 1995 The Xunantunich Settlement Survey. Xunantunich Archaeological Project: The 1995 Season. Submitted to the Institute of Archaeology, Belize.Google Scholar
Niemeyer, Joachim, Rottensteiner, Franz, and Soergel, Uwe 2012 Conditional Random Fields for LiDAR Point Cloud Classification in Complex Urban Areas. ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences 1(3):263268.Google Scholar
Novotny, Anna C. 2012 The Chan Community: A Bioarchaeological Perspective. In Chan: An Ancient Maya Farming Community, edited by Robin, Cynthia, pp. 232252. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Peuramaki-Brown, Meaghan 2012 The Integration and Disintegration of Ancient Maya Urban Centres: Charting Households and Community at Buenavista del Cayo, Belize. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary.Google Scholar
Pingel, Thomas J., Clarke, Keith, and Ford, Anabel 2015 Bonemapping: A LiDAR Processing and Visualization Technique in Support of Archaeology under the Canopy. Cartography and Geographic Information Science 42(sup1):1826.Google Scholar
Prufer, Keith M., Thompson, Amy E., and Kennett, Douglas 2015 Evaluating Airborne LIDAR for Detecting Settlements and Modified Landscapes in Disturbed Tropical Environments at Uxbenka, Belize. Journal of Archaeological Science 57:113.Google Scholar
Pyburn, Anne K. 1990 Prehistoric Maya Community and Settlement at Nohmul, Belize. BAR International Series. Oxford, England.Google Scholar
Oliver, Ricketson Jr., and Kidder, A.V. 1930 An Archeological Reconnaissance by Air in Central America. Geographical Review 20(2):177206.Google Scholar
Robin, Cynthia (editor) 2012 Chan: An Ancient Maya Farming Community. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M., López-Torrijos, Ricardo, Antonelli, Caroline E., and Mendelson, Rebecca R. 2013 LIDAR Mapping and Surface Survey of the Izapa State on the Tropical Piedmont of Chiapas, Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Science 40:14931507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saturno, William A., Sever, Thomas L., Irwin, Daniel E., Howell, Burgess F., and Garrison, Thomas G. 2007 Putting Us on the Map: Remote Sensing Investigation of the Ancient Maya Landscape. In Remote Sensing in Archaeology, edited by Wiseman, James R. and El-Baz, Farouk, pp. 137160. Springer, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sever, Thomas L., and Irwin, Daniel E. 2003 Landscape Archaeology: Remote-Sensing Investigation of the Ancient Maya in the Peten Rainforest of Northern Guatemala. Ancient Mesoamerica 14(1):113122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scherer, Andrew K., and Golden, Charles 2009 Tecolote, Guatemala: Archaeological Evidence for a Fortified Late Classic Maya Political Border. Journal of Field Archaeology 34:285305.Google Scholar
Silván-Cardenás, José L., and Wang, L. 2006 A Multi-resolution Approach for Filtering LiDAR Altimetry Data. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 61:1122.Google Scholar
Sithole, George, and Vosselman, George 2004 Experimental Comparison of Filter Algorithms for Bare-Earth Extraction from Airborne Laser Scanning Point Clouds. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 59:85101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spaete, Lucas P., Glenn, Nancy F., Derryberry, Dewayne R., Sankey, Temuulen T., Mitchell, Jessica J., and Hardegree, Stuart P. 2011 Vegetation and Slope Effect on Accuracy of a LiDAR-Derived DEM in the Sagebrush Steppe. Remote Sensing Letters 2:317326.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Lauren A., Awe, Jaime J., and Brown, M. Kathryn 2009 Refining the Cunil Ceramic Complex at Cahal Pech, Belize. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 6:161168.Google Scholar
Sweely, Tracy L. 2005 Detecting “Invisible” Dwellings in the Maya Area Using Electromagnetic Induction: Significant Findings of a Pilot Study at Chau Hiix, Belize. Latin American Antiquity 16:193208.Google Scholar
Taschek, Jennifer T., and Ball, Joseph W. 1999 Las Ruinas de Arenal. Ancient Mesoamerica 10:215235.Google Scholar
Taschek, Jennifer T., and Ball, Joseph W. 2003 Nohoch Ek Revisted: The Minor Center as Manor. Latin American Antiquity 14:371388.Google Scholar
Webster, David 1976 Defensive Earthworks at Becan, Campeche, Mexico. Middle American Research Institute Publication No. 46. Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Webster, David, Murtha, Timothy, Straight, Kirk D., Silverstein, Jay, Martinez, Horacio, Terry, Richard E., and Burnett, Richard 2007 The Great Tikal Earthwork Revisited. Journal of Field Archaeology 32:4164.Google Scholar
Weishampel, John F., Hightower, Jessica N., Chase, Arlen F., Chase, Diane Z., and Patrick, Ryan A. 2011 Detection and Morphologic Analysis of Potential Below-Canopy Cave Openings in the Karst Landscape Around the Polity of Caracol Using Airborne LIDAR. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 73:187196.Google Scholar
White, Devin A. 2013 LIDAR, Point Clouds, and Their Archaeological Applications. In Mapping Archaeological Landscapes from Space, edited by Comer, Douglas C. and Harrower, Michael J., pp. 175186. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R., Bullard, William R. Jr., Glass, John B., and Gifford, James C. 1965 Prehistoric Maya Settlements in the Belize Valley, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Papers 54, Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Yaeger, Jason 2000 Changing Patterns of Social Organization: The Late and Terminal Classic Communities at San Lorenzo, Cayo District, Belize. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Yaeger, Jason 2008 Charting the Collapse: Late Classic to Postclassic Population Dynamics in the Mopan Valley, Belize. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 5:1321.Google Scholar
Yaeger, Jason 2010 Landscapes of the Xunantunich Hinterlands. In Classic Maya Provincial Politics: Xunantunich and Its Hinterlands, edited by LeCount, Lisa J. and Yaeger, Jason, pp. 233249. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Yaeger, Jason, Peuramaki-Brown, Meaghan, Dykstra, Christina, Kurnick, Sarah, and Salgado-Flores, Sebastián 2011 Political Dynamics in the Mopan River Valley: Recent Research in the Buenavista del Cayo Hinterlands. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 8:3144.Google Scholar
Yaeger, Jason, Whitaker, Jason M., Lindley, Tiffany M., and Kathryn Brown, M. 2014 Revisiting San Lorenzo: Recent Excavations in the Mopan Valley. Paper presented at the 12th Annual Belize Anthropology and Archaeology Symposium, San Ignacio, Belize.Google Scholar
Yunfei, Bao, Guoping, Li, Chunxiang, Cao, Xiaowen, Li, Hao, Zhang, Qisheng, He, Linyan, Bai, and Chaoyi, Chang 2008 Classification of LIDAR Point Cloud and Generation of DTM from LIDAR Height and Intensity Data in Forested Areas. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences 37(3b):313318.Google Scholar
Zhou, Qian-Yi, and Neumann, Ulrich 2013 Complete Residential Urban Area Reconstruction from Dense Aerial LiDAR Point Clouds. Graphical Methods 75:118125.Google Scholar