Ancient Maya water management, agriculture, and society in the area of Chactún, Campeche, Mexico

Šprajc, Ivan; Dunning, Nicholas P.; Štajdohar, Jasmina; Gómez, Quintin Hernández; López, Israel Chato; Marsetič, Aleš; Ball, Joseph W.; Góngora, Sara Dzul; Olguín, Octavio Quetzalcóatl Esparza; Esquivel, Atasta Flores; Kokalj, Žiga

doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2020.101261

Cited by 26 publications

(33 citation statements)

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“…However, even with a conservative approach, considering many complex mounds as a single structure, we obtained about 61 structures/km 2 , whereas in an extensive area of the Guatemalan Pete ´n, the density based on PACUNAM lidar survey turned out to be 29 structures/km 2 [16]. As argued elsewhere [6], the surprising density of archaeological remains in the CHRP area reflects a successful adaptation to the less than optimal environmental conditions, although the Late Classic overexploitation of natural resources combined with unfavorable climatic change led to increased vulnerability and disintegration of the complex sociopolitical structures, which finally resulted in a dramatic demographic decline.…”

Section: Archaeological Characteristics Of the Areamentioning

confidence: 78%

“…contiguously, either aligned or at different angles with respect to each other. This is another distinctive feature of the CHRP area, making it impossible to delimit individual structures or households and preventing reliable population estimates based on structure count and common in Maya archaeology (it is for this reason that we employed different methods [6]). Both these residential clusters and elongated standalone structures, which are also common, were…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a previous study [6], we focused on the techniques of water management and agricultural intensification reflected in specific types of landscape modifications. By analyzing their characteristics, distribution, and chronology, we examined their practical functions, which were of foremost importance in the region characterized by the lack of permanent water sources, and explored the sociopolitical structures involved in their construction and maintenance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Archaeological landscape, settlement dynamics, and sociopolitical organization in the Chactún area of the central Maya Lowlands

et al. 2022

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Until recently, an extensive area in the central lowlands of the Yucatán peninsula was completely unexplored archaeologically. In 2013 and 2014, during initial surveys in the northern part of the uninhabited Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in eastern Campeche, Mexico, we located Chactún, Tamchén and Lagunita, three major Maya centers with some unexpected characteristics. Lidar data, acquired in 2016 for a larger area of 240 km2, revealed a thoroughly modified and undisturbed archaeological landscape with a remarkably large number of residential clusters and widespread modifications related to water management and agriculture. Substantial additional information was obtained through field surveys and test excavations in 2017 and 2018. While hydraulic and agricultural features and their potential for solving various archaeologically relevant questions were discussed in a previous publication, here we examine the characteristics of settlement patterns, architectural remains, sculpted monuments, and ceramic evidence. The early Middle Preclassic (early first millennium BCE) material collected in stratigraphic pits at Tamchén and another locale constitutes the earliest evidence of colonization known so far in a broader central lowland area. From then until the Late Classic period, which was followed by a dramatic demographic decline, the area under study witnessed relatively constant population growth and interacted with different parts of the Maya Lowlands. However, a number of specific and previously unknown cultural traits attest to a rather distinctive regional development, providing novel information about the extent of regional variation within the Maya culture. By analyzing settlement pattern characteristics, inscriptional data, the distribution of architectural volumes and some other features of the currently visible archaeological landscape, which largely reflects the Late Classic situation, we reconstruct several aspects of sociopolitical and territorial organization in that period, highlighting similarities with and differences from what has been evidenced in the neighboring Río Bec region and elsewhere in the Maya area.

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Section: Archaeological Characteristics Of the Areamentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Archaeological landscape, settlement dynamics, and sociopolitical organization in the Chactún area of the central Maya Lowlands

et al. 2022

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“…But this misconception runs deep in archaeological practice, especially outside the community of LiDAR data specialists [18,19]. In practice, archaeologists all too often depend on external experts to process the airborne LiDAR data from raw data to visualizations, and sometimes even interpretive mapping is outsourced to non-archaeologists, e.g., [91]. The consequence, as we indicated in the introduction, is that derivatives (for example, DTM visualizations) are most often accepted as facts rather than "facts" (sensu Clarke [22]), which is at least partly the consequence of black-boxing the data processing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the real advantages lie in the ability to generate DTMs for further analysis and in the classification of certain types of archaeological standing objects as buildings. The latter is particularly useful, for example, in a situation where standing objects are ubiquitous and modern buildings are absent, e.g., [87][88][89][90][91]. In such morphological contexts, the proposed pipeline (with possible tweaks to the settings) can be used for automatic feature detection at the point cloud level, which has many advantages.…”

Section: Automatic Ground Point and Object-type Classificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Airborne LiDAR Point Cloud Processing for Archaeology. Pipeline and QGIS Toolbox

2021

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The use of topographic airborne LiDAR data has become an essential part of archaeological prospection. However, as a step towards theoretically aware, impactful, and reproducible research, a more rigorous and transparent method of data processing is required. To this end, we set out to create a processing pipeline for archaeology-specific point cloud processing and derivation of products that are optimized for general-purpose data. The proposed pipeline improves on ground and building point cloud classification. The main area of innovation in the proposed pipeline is raster grid interpolation. We have improved the state-of-the-art by introducing a hybrid interpolation technique that combines inverse distance weighting with a triangulated irregular network with linear interpolation. State-of-the-art solutions for enhanced visualizations are included and essential metadata and paradata are also generated. In addition, we have introduced a QGIS plug-in that implements the pipeline as a one-step process. It reduces the manual workload by 75 to 90 percent and requires no special skills other than a general familiarity with the QGIS environment. It is intended that the pipeline and tool will contribute to the white-boxing of archaeology-specific airborne LiDAR data processing. In discussion, the role of data processing in the knowledge production process is explored.

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Issues of Sampling and Representativeness in Large‐Scale LiDAR‐Derived Archaeological Surveys in Mediterranean Contexts

Fontana

2024

Archaeological Prospection

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Landscape‐scale LiDAR‐based studies are becoming increasingly prevalent in archaeology, mainly focusing on detecting archaeological sites to create datasets for spatial analysis. However, the representativeness of these datasets in accurately reflecting the surviving distributions of archaeological sites has often been overlooked. This paper discusses issues of sampling and representativeness in LiDAR‐derived datasets, particularly within the scope of large‐scale landscape studies in Mediterranean contexts. Drawing insights from the Ancient Hillforts Survey, which analysed 15 296 km2 in south‐central Italy, the study examines the variability in the visibility of different site typologies in open‐source but low‐resolution LiDAR data. Through an examination of hillforts, platform farms, settlements, field systems, traces of Roman centuriation, and transhumance routes, the paper highlights significant variability in the identification and mapping within and across different site types. Recognizing the need to account for this variability in the development of spatial analysis, the paper discusses the use of sampling areas to address this variability. This approach aims to effectively mitigate potential biases in analysis, emphasizing the necessity for nuanced methodologies in interpreting LiDAR data for archaeological research.

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Ancient Maya water management, agriculture, and society in the area of Chactún, Campeche, Mexico

Cited by 26 publications

References 60 publications

Archaeological landscape, settlement dynamics, and sociopolitical organization in the Chactún area of the central Maya Lowlands

Archaeological landscape, settlement dynamics, and sociopolitical organization in the Chactún area of the central Maya Lowlands

Airborne LiDAR Point Cloud Processing for Archaeology. Pipeline and QGIS Toolbox

Issues of Sampling and Representativeness in Large‐Scale LiDAR‐Derived Archaeological Surveys in Mediterranean Contexts

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