Airborne Lidar Survey, Density-Based Clustering, and Ancient Maya Settlement in the Upper Usumacinta River Region of Mexico and Guatemala

Remote Sensing

Timothy Murtha¹  Whittaker Schroder¹  Charles Golden²  Alexandra Bazarsky²  G. Van Kollias²  Alejandra Roche Recinos³  Morgan Clark³  Mallory Matsumoto³  Andrew K. Scherer³  Joshua Schnell³  Bethany Whitlock³  Mark Agostini³  Shanti Morell-Hart⁴  Omar Alcover Firpi⁵  Socorro del Pilar Jiménez Álvarez⁶  Juan Carlos Fernandez Diaz⁷ 

[1] Center for Latin American Studies and Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA;Department of Anthropology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02453, USA;Department of Anthropology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA;Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L9, Canada;Education Department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA 90036, USA;Facultad de Ciencias Antropológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Merida, Yucatán, MX 97305, USA;National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA;

关键词: lidar;    Mesoamerica;    archaeology;    population density;    ancient agriculture;    density-based cluster analysis;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs13204109

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

We present results from the archaeological analysis of 331 km² of high-resolution airborne lidar data collected in the Upper Usumacinta River basin of Mexico and Guatemala. Multiple visualizations of the DEM and multi-spectral data from four lidar transects crossing the Classic period (AD 350–900) Maya kingdoms centered on the sites of Piedras Negras, La Mar, and Lacanja Tzeltal permitted the identification of ancient settlement and associated features of agricultural infrastructure. HDBSCAN (hierarchical density-based clustering of applications with noise) cluster analysis was applied to the distribution of ancient structures to define urban, peri-urban, sub-urban, and rural settlement zones. Interpretations of these remotely sensed data are informed by decades of ground-based archaeological survey and excavations, as well as a rich historical record drawn from inscribed stone monuments. Our results demonstrate that these neighboring kingdoms in three adjacent valleys exhibit divergent patterns of structure clustering and low-density urbanism, distributions of agricultural infrastructure, and economic practices during the Classic period. Beyond meeting basic subsistence needs, agricultural production in multiple areas permitted surpluses likely for the purposes of tribute, taxation, and marketing. More broadly, this research highlights the strengths of HDBSCAN to the archaeological study of settlement distributions when compared to more commonly applied methods of density-based cluster analysis.

【 授权许可】

Unknown