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© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

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.

Details

Title
Airborne Lidar Survey, Density-Based Clustering, and Ancient Maya Settlement in the Upper Usumacinta River Region of Mexico and Guatemala
Author
Golden, Charles 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Scherer, Andrew K 2 ; Whittaker Schroder 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Murtha, Timothy 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Morell-Hart, Shanti 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Fernandez Diaz, Juan Carlos 5   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Socorro del Pilar Jiménez Álvarez 6 ; Omar Alcover Firpi 7 ; Agostini, Mark 2 ; Bazarsky, Alexandra 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Morgan, Clark 2 ; G Van KolliasIII 1 ; Matsumoto, Mallory 2 ; Alejandra Roche Recinos 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Schnell, Joshua 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Whitlock, Bethany 2 

 Department of Anthropology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02453, USA; [email protected] (A.B.); [email protected] (G.V.K.III) 
 Department of Anthropology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA; [email protected] (A.K.S.); [email protected] (M.A.); [email protected] (M.C.); [email protected] (M.M.); [email protected] (A.R.R.); [email protected] (J.S.); [email protected] (B.W.) 
 Center for Latin American Studies and Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; [email protected] (W.S.); [email protected] (T.M.) 
 Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L9, Canada; [email protected] 
 National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA; [email protected] 
 Facultad de Ciencias Antropológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Merida, Yucatán, MX 97305, USA; [email protected] 
 Education Department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA 90036, USA; [email protected] 
First page
4109
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20724292
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2584507561
Copyright
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.