Case study - The Maya

History

• Radiocarbon provided secure absolute time depth in Mesoamerican archaeology allowing data from different locations to be compared

• Chase et al (2012) argues LiDAR is doing the same in heavily forested regions like Maya Lowlands

Chase et al (2012)

• Argues there is a gap in our knowledge of the Maya due to jungle-covered terrain

• Conducted LiDAR surveys in Belize and Mexico and created DEM to a scale that had not been achieved in the region so far

Belize

• Revealed Maya city with markets, roads and agricultural terracing including underground storage units, looted burial chambers, and caves.

• The LiDAR results confirmed and visually demonstrated Caracol's scale and within the remit of low-density urbanism

Mexico

• Results revealed an exceedingly dense urban occupation

• Site showed hundreds of  residential groups bounded by walls and streets articulating with larger monumental architecture

• Complexity of this scale was a surprise and thus revealed social complexity where none was expected