Mayapan LiDAR Mapping Project

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，蒂莫西·黑尔、布拉德·罗素和玛丽莲·马森将与美国和墨西哥的同事一起，在墨西哥北部Yucatán半岛使用尖端的遥感技术和考古调查，绘制史前政治和经济首都Mayapán的区域背景图。这项研究与早期的研究一起，将明确回答研究人员在探索有关城市结构和区域一体化的复杂问题时提出的许多重要问题。记录Mayapán多方面的城市和地区背景，将使我们能够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人类学比较。这将加强对古代城市周边城乡聚落结构和行政组织复杂格局的比较文献研究。此外，这些新数据将使Mayapán成为中美洲被调查最彻底的城市之一，并成为古代城市主义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）最后一个主要城市的研究。Mayapán比任何后古典时代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，极其强大的军事力量，以及在政治和经济关系方面的主导地位。然而，之前的调查主要集中在城市中心，对Mayapán的区域背景知之甚少。之前的研究探索了城墙外大约一公里的地方。然而，要在墙外进行更详细的测绘，必须克服整个区域表面植被稠密的障碍，这阻碍了传统的调查方法和遥感技术。该项目将通过创建地图来重建城市的区域背景，揭示该地区考古特征的范围和组织。Debra Rohrer （Geo-Rhea）将指挥一架无人机部署的闪光激光雷达相机，以前所未有的精度绘制森林树冠下的古代遗迹。美国宇航局开发的3D闪光激光雷达相机的分辨率为1厘米，甚至可以显示细微的建筑特征。这项技术将对城市周围20平方英里的区域进行详细的、100%覆盖的激光雷达和航空照片调查。现场工作人员将对绘制的特征样本进行实地测试，以测试这项新技术的准确性。在Carlos Peraza Lope的指导下，该项目继续与国家研究所Antropología e Historia的梅里达Yucatán办公室的研究人员进行国际合作，他们花了十多年的时间在市中心挖掘纪念性结构。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发现并做出贡献。这项新技术产生的数据将与玛雅地区文化遗产倡议（MACHI）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.