Mayapan LiDAR Mapping Project

在国家科学基金会的支持下，蒂莫西·黑尔、布拉德·拉塞尔和玛丽莲·马森博士以及美国和墨西哥的同事将利用尖端的遥感技术和在墨西哥北方尤卡坦半岛的考古调查，绘制玛雅潘史前政治和经济首都的区域背景图。这项研究，沿着早期的研究，将明确回答许多重要的问题，研究人员提出的问题时，探索复杂的问题，城市结构和区域一体化。记录玛雅潘多方面的城市和区域背景将使人类学与当代和早期中美洲地区首府以及世界历史上其他地方的古代国家进行必要的比较。这将加强对古代城市周围的城市和农村聚落结构和行政组织的复杂模式的比较文献。此外，这些新的数据将使玛雅潘成为中美洲最彻底的调查城市之一，也是古代城市化比较研究的重要案例。该项目继续对前西班牙玛雅（公元1100-1441年）的最后一个主要城市进行研究。玛雅潘比任何其他后古典时期的玛雅城市都大十倍，在中美洲东南部是独一无二的，拥有高度密集的定居点，非常强大的军事力量，以及在政治和经济关系中的主导地位。然而，以前的调查集中在城市中心，对马亚潘的区域背景知之甚少。以前的研究探索了城墙外大约一公里的地方。然而，墙外更详细的测绘必须克服整个区域地表植被茂密的障碍，这种障碍阻碍了传统的测量方法和遥感技术。该项目将通过创建一张地图来重建城市的区域背景，该地图揭示了整个地区考古特征的范围和组织。Debra Rohrer（Geo-Rhea）将指挥无人机部署的Flash LiDAR相机以前所未有的精度通过森林树冠绘制古代遗迹。NASA开发的3D Flash LiDAR相机分辨率为1厘米，甚至可以揭示微妙的建筑特征。该技术将对城市周围20平方英里的区域进行详细的100%覆盖率的LiDAR和航空照片调查。实地工作人员将对地图特征的样本进行地面实况调查，以测试这项新技术的准确性。该项目继续与国家人类学和历史研究所梅里达，尤卡坦办事处的研究人员在卡洛斯佩拉扎洛佩的指导下进行国际合作，他花了十多年时间在市中心挖掘纪念性建筑。 这种持续的合作为来自美国和墨西哥的学生和学者提供了许多实地和实验室的机会，并致力于与当地社区分享其研究结果。这项新技术产生的数据将与玛雅地区文化遗产倡议（MAYAI）和地方当局共享，以促进该遗址的长期保护和监测工作。

With National Science Foundation support, Drs. Timothy Hare, Brad Russell, and Marilyn Masson, together with American and Mexican colleagues will use cutting-edge remote sensing technology and archaeological survey in Mexico's northern Yucatán Peninsula to map the regional context of the political and economic prehistoric capital of Mayapán. This research, along with earlier studies, will definitively answer numerous important questions asked by researchers when exploring complex questions about urban structure and regional integration. Documenting Mayapán's multifaceted urban and regional context will enable essential anthropological comparisons with contemporary and earlier Mesoamerican regional capitals, and with ancient states elsewhere in world history. This will enhance the comparative literature on the complex patterns of urban and rural settlement structure and administrative organization around ancient cities. Furthermore, these new data will make Mayapán one of the most thoroughly investigated cities in Mesoamerica and an important case for the comparative study of ancient urbanism.This project continues ongoing research at the last major city of the prehispanic Maya (1100-1441 AD). Mayapán was ten times larger than any other Postclassic Maya city and was unique in southeastern Mesoamerica with a highly dense settlement, tremendously powerful military, and dominance in political, and economic ties. Previous investigations have focused on the urban center, however, and little is known about Mayapán's regional context. Previous research explored approximately a kilometer outside the city's wall. More detailed mapping beyond the walls, however, must overcome the obstacle of dense surface vegetation throughout the region that inhibits traditional survey methods and remote sensing technology. The project will reconstruct the city's regional context by creating a map that reveals the extent and organization of archaeological features across the region. Debra Rohrer (Geo-Rhea) will direct a drone-deployed Flash LiDAR camera to map ancient remains through the forest canopy at a level of precision never previously achieved. The NASA-developed 3D Flash LiDAR camera allows a 1 cm resolution, which can reveal even subtle architectural features. This technology will produce a detailed, 100% coverage LiDAR and aerial photo survey of a 20 square mile area around the city. Field crews will ground-truth a sample of mapped features to test the accuracy of this new technology. This project continues international collaborations with researchers from the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia's Merida, Yucatán office under the direction of Carlos Peraza Lope, who have spent over a decade excavating monumental structures in the city's center. This ongoing collaboration provides numerous field and laboratory opportunities for students and scholars from the United States and Mexico, and is dedicated to sharing its findings with, and contribute to, local communities. The data generated with this new technology will be shared with the Maya Area Cultural Heritage Initiative (MACHI) and local authorities to facilitate long term conservation and monitoring efforts at the site.