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LiDAR: uncovering the world of the Maya

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  • LiDAR: uncovering the world of the Maya

    In two days, it can do what takes us twenty years to do.

    Archaeologists have suspected there was more to Tikal, El Zotz and Holmul. But it wasn’t until recently that proof came – in the form of Lidar, a type of remote sensing technology.


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    Research Article
    Ancient lowland Maya complexity as revealed by airborne laser scanning of northern Guatemala




    If the women don\'t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

  • #2
    Amazing technology. They were everywhere. The Romans and Egyptians had nothing on them.
    Searching the fields of NW Indiana and SW Michigan

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    • #3
      It's pretty amazing technology. Tikal has been explored and excavated for more than 100 years, seriously for the last 70 years, and LiDAR scans have found stuff hiding right in the touristy area of the site. In some cases the very largest features are only 10 feet high but cover such a large area that it's hard to appreciate them for the perfect rectangle they are. In other cases they found some surprisingly tall pyramids that were just never noticed before because someone 50 years ago wrote "empty zone" on a map.
      Hong Kong, but from Indiana/Florida

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      • #4
        Always amazed by how much we don’t know.
        Floridaboy.

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        • #5
          Lidar has also been used to explore the canals & mounds of SW Florida's Calusa Kingdom
          Mound Key was once the capital of the Calusa Kingdom, a large Pre-Hispanic polity that controlled much of southern Florida. Mound Key, like other archaeological sites along the southwest Gulf Coast, is a large expanse of shell and other anthropogenic sediments. The challenges that these sites pose are largely due to the size and areal extent of the deposits, some of which begin up to a meter below and exceed nine meters above modern sea levels. Additionally, the complex depositional sequences at these sites present difficulties in determining their chronology. Here, we examine the development of Mound Key as an anthropogenic island through systematic coring of the deposits, excavations, and intensive radiocarbon dating. The resulting data, which include the reversals of radiocarbon dates from cores and dates from mound-top features, lend insight into the temporality of site formation. We use these insights to discuss the nature and scale of human activities that worked to form this large island in the context of its dynamic, environmental setting. We present the case that deposits within Mound Key’s central area accumulated through complex processes that represent a diversity of human action including midden accumulation and the redeposition of older sediments as mound fill.


          The wondrous engineering feat of the Calusa Indians


          No frig., no problem!
          The mighty Calusa ruled South Florida for centuries, wielding military power, trading and collecting tribute along routes that sprawled hundreds of miles, creating shell islands, erecting enormous buildings and dredging canals wider than some highways. Unlike the Aztecs, Maya and Inca, who built their empires with the help of agriculture, the Calusa kingdom was founded on fishing.


          If the women don\'t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

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          • #6
            Hey Dan, Thanks for the links. It's amazing how many impact craters have been discovered using lidar too.
            Michigan Yooper
            If You Don’t Stand for Something, You’ll Fall for Anything

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            • #7
              Tikal is amazing. I used to work in Guatemala City. Well, I travelled there to work for many years. It's so different from the Mayan ruins I visited in Mexico. That was in the early 2000's and they were making new discoveries everyday. I also remember how dangerous the area was or at least felt dangerous to me. Dangerous but amazing.
              South Carolina

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              • clovisoid
                clovisoid commented
                Editing a comment
                Guatemala is awesome, I used to spend a lot of time there. Depending on how long ago it is/was quite dangerous in many areas.

                Flores & the Peten region are so very different than Guatemala City.
                Last edited by clovisoid; 09-23-2020, 10:48 PM.

            • #8
              I love watching them use LIDAR to find things they’ve literally been standing on for years.

              thanks for sharing.👍👍
              Wandering wherever I can, mostly in Eastern Arkansas, always looking down.

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