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

2018; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 361; Issue: 6409 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.aau0137

1095-9203

Marcello A. Canuto, Francisco Estrada-Belli, Thomas G. Garrison, Stephen Houston, Mary Jane Acuña, Milan Kováč, Damien B. Marken, Philippe Nondédéo, Luke Auld-Thomas, Cyril Castanet, David Chatelain, Carlos Chiriboga, Tomáš Drápela, Tibor Lieskovský, Alexandre Tokovinine, Antolín Velásquez, Juan Carlos Fernández-Diaz, Ramesh Shrestha,

3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage

Classic Maya civilization in detail Lidar (a type of airborne laser scanning) provides a powerful technique for three-dimensional mapping of topographic features. It is proving to be a valuable tool in archaeology, particularly where the remains of structures may be hidden beneath forest canopies. Canuto et al. present lidar data covering more than 2000 square kilometers of lowland Guatemala, which encompasses ancient settlements of the Classic Maya civilization (see the Perspective by Ford and Horn). The data yielded population estimates, measures of agricultural intensification, and evidence of investment in landscape-transforming infrastructure. The findings indicate that this Lowland Maya society was a regionally interconnected network of densely populated and defended cities, which were sustained by an array of agricultural practices that optimized land productivity and the interactions between rural and urban communities. Science , this issue p. eaau0137 ; see also p. 1313