Detecting Classic Maya Settlements with Lidar-Derived Relief Visualizations

Amy E Thompson

doi:10.3390/rs12172838

Abstract

In the past decade, Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) has fundamentally changed our ability to remotely detect archaeological features and deepen our understanding of past human-environment interactions, settlement systems, agricultural practices, and monumental constructions. Across archaeological contexts, lidar relief visualization techniques test how local environments impact archaeological prospection. This study used a 132 km2 lidar dataset to assess three relief visualization techniques—sky-view factor (SVF), topographic position index (TPI), and simple local relief model (SLRM)—and object-based image analysis (OBIA) on a slope model for the non-automated visual detection of small hinterland Classic (250–800 CE) Maya settlements near the polities of Uxbenká and Ix Kuku’il in Southern Belize. Pedestrian survey in the study area identified 315 plazuelas across a 35 km2 area; the remaining 90 km2 in the lidar dataset is yet to be surveyed. The previously surveyed plazuelas were compared to the plazuelas visually identified on the TPI and SLRM. In total, an additional 563 new possible plazuelas were visually identified across the lidar dataset, using TPI and SLRM. Larger plazuelas, and especially plazuelas located in disturbed environments, are often more likely to be detected in a visual assessment of the TPI and SLRM. These findings emphasize the extent and density of Classic Maya settlements and highlight the continued need for pedestrian survey to ground-truth remotely identified archaeological features and the impact of modern anthropogenic behaviors for archaeological prospection. Remote sensing and lidar have deepened our understanding of past human settlement systems and low-density urbanism, processes that we experience today as humans residing in modern cities.

Highlights

For nearly a century, remote sensing has been used for archaeological prospection to locate otherwise hidden features and better understand past human-landscape interactions
I assess the applicability of four methods (three relief visualization techniques and an object-based image analysis (OBIA)) based on aerial lidar-derived data, to remotely detect small archaeological features associated with hinterland settlements in the Maya Lowlands
While other studies successfully used OBIA [21,25] and sky-view factor (SVF) [1,35] to identify archaeological features, the OBIA and SVF produced results where plazuelas and structures were difficult to identify on the Uxbenká Archaeological Project (UAP) data (Figure 4c,d)

Summary

Introduction

Remote sensing has been used for archaeological prospection to locate otherwise hidden features and better understand past human-landscape interactions. In the past two decades, novel technologies such as Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) revolutionized the use of remote sensing for archaeological prospection. In the tropics, these technologies can improve archaeological prospection through the remote and digital identification of archaeological features [11,12,13,14,15,16], increasing the efficiency of pedestrian archaeological survey [17,18]. I assess the applicability of four methods (three relief visualization techniques and an object-based image analysis (OBIA)) based on aerial lidar-derived data, to remotely detect small archaeological features associated with hinterland settlements in the Maya Lowlands. Remote-sensing methods have been used to test lidar-derived models for archaeological prospection in a variety of spatial and temporal regions, including the Archaic period (pre-1000 BCE), Woodland Period (1000 BCE–1000 CE), and Mississippian Era (900–1200 CE) of the Eastern and Southeastern United States [21,24,25,26,27,28]; Bronze Age (2000–800 BCE), Iron Age (800–1 BCE), and Medieval (800–1300 CE) Europe [29,30]; Preclassic (1000 BCE–250 CE) and Classic period (250–800 CE) Maya in Central America [1,2]; Khmer Empire (800–1400 CE) in Cambodia [12,31]; and the Four Corners region of the American Southwest (600–1300 CE) [32]

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Results

Conclusion