Mayapan LiDAR Mapping Project

Morehead State University, Morehead KY

Investigators

Abstract

With National Science Foundation support, Drs. Timothy Hare, Brad Russell, and Marilyn Masson, together with American and Mexican colleagues will use cutting-edge remote sensing technology and archaeological survey in Mexico's northern Yucatán Peninsula to map the regional context of the political and economic prehistoric capital of Mayapán. This research, along with earlier studies, will definitively answer numerous important questions asked by researchers when exploring complex questions about urban structure and regional integration. Documenting Mayapán's multifaceted urban and regional context will enable essential anthropological comparisons with contemporary and earlier Mesoamerican regional capitals, and with ancient states elsewhere in world history. This will enhance the comparative literature on the complex patterns of urban and rural settlement structure and administrative organization around ancient cities. Furthermore, these new data will make Mayapán one of the most thoroughly investigated cities in Mesoamerica and an important case for the comparative study of ancient urbanism. This project continues ongoing research at the last major city of the prehispanic Maya (1100-1441 AD). Mayapán was ten times larger than any other Postclassic Maya city and was unique in southeastern Mesoamerica with a highly dense settlement, tremendously powerful military, and dominance in political, and economic ties. Previous investigations have focused on the urban center, however, and little is known about Mayapán's regional context. Previous research explored approximately a kilometer outside the city's wall. More detailed mapping beyond the walls, however, must overcome the obstacle of dense surface vegetation throughout the region that inhibits traditional survey methods and remote sensing technology. The project will reconstruct the city's regional context by creating a map that reveals the extent and organization of archaeological features across the region. Debra Rohrer (Geo-Rhea) will direct a drone-deployed Flash LiDAR camera to map ancient remains through the forest canopy at a level of precision never previously achieved. The NASA-developed 3D Flash LiDAR camera allows a 1 cm resolution, which can reveal even subtle architectural features. This technology will produce a detailed, 100% coverage LiDAR and aerial photo survey of a 20 square mile area around the city. Field crews will ground-truth a sample of mapped features to test the accuracy of this new technology. This project continues international collaborations with researchers from the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia's Merida, Yucatán office under the direction of Carlos Peraza Lope, who have spent over a decade excavating monumental structures in the city's center. This ongoing collaboration provides numerous field and laboratory opportunities for students and scholars from the United States and Mexico, and is dedicated to sharing its findings with, and contribute to, local communities. The data generated with this new technology will be shared with the Maya Area Cultural Heritage Initiative (MACHI) and local authorities to facilitate long term conservation and monitoring efforts at the site.