Christopher T. Fisher

Geospatial revolution and remote sensing LiDAR in Mesoamerican archaeology

The application of light detection and ranging (LiDAR), a laser-based remote-sensing technology that is capable of penetrating overlying vegetation and forest canopies, is generating a fundamental shift in Mesoamerican archaeology and has the potential to transform research in forested areas world-wide. Much as radiocarbon dating that half a century ago moved archaeology forward by grounding archaeological remains in time, LiDAR is proving to be a catalyst for an improved spatial understanding of the past. With LiDAR, ancient societies can be contextualized within a fully defined landscape. Interpretations about the scale and organization of densely forested sites no longer are constrained by sample size, as they were when mapping required laborious on-ground survey. The ability to articulate ancient landscapes fully permits a better understanding of the complexity of ancient Mesoamerican urbanism and also aids in modern conservation efforts. The importance of this geospatial innovation is demonstrated with newly acquired LiDAR data from the archaeological sites of Caracol, Cayo, Belize and Angamuco, Michoacán, Mexico. These data illustrate the potential of technology to act as a catalytic enabler of rapid transformational change in archaeological research and interpretation and also underscore the value of on-the-ground archaeological investigation in validating and contextualizing results.

A reexamination of human-induced environmental change within the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Michoacán, Mexico

This paper presents 2,000 years of settlement and land use within the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Mexico. Three findings challenge the conclusions of previous research. We show (i) that initial land degradation was caused by settlement, not by agriculture; (ii) that population density inversely correlates with erosion; and (iii) that land degradation was associated with European Conquest but not from the introduction of the Euro-agro suite. Instead, demographic collapse caused by European-introduced disease prevented human-generated landscapes from being maintained, resulting in widespread degradation. These findings support the use of indigenous landscape technology for modern conservation if past failings can be resolved.

Seeking a Richer Harvest

In current times, intensification is most often discussed in terms of feeding the world’s poor, counteracting globalization, or improving the balance of trade, issues earnestly debated by economists, geographers, development experts, and agricultural soil scientists, chemists, and the like (i.e. Bashaasha et al. 2001, Bebbington 1997, Byerlee et al., 1997, FitzSimmons 1986, Pingali 1989, Smith et al., 1994). When one speaks to current farmers, the voices are more immediate, if sometimes ambivalent (Bennett and Warrington 2003a). Some praise intensification and the coming of the “new” while others damn it, still others point out both successes and failures with the introduction of ‘scientific’ farming.

Geodetic imaging: A new tool for Mesoamerican archaeology

On 15 May 2012, Honduran President Porfirio Lobo convened a press conference to announce that researchers mapping areas of the Mosquitia region of Honduras, using airborne light detection and ranging (lidar), had discovered what appeared to be an extensive complex of archaeological ruins hidden beneath the dense canopy of rain forest that shrouds the terrain [UTL Scientific, LLC, 2012]. President Lobo released preliminary images of the ruins derived from the airborne lidar observations (Figure 1a) but withheld information about their precise location so that measures could be taken to protect and preserve this newly discovered cultural heritage. The coordinates of the ruins, determined from the lidar observations with an accuracy of a few decimeters, will enable archaeological teams to use the Global Positioning System to navigate through the dense forest directly to features of interest.

Identifying Ancient Settlement Patterns through LiDAR in the Mosquitia Region of Honduras

The Mosquitia ecosystem of Honduras occupies the fulcrum between the American continents and as such constitutes a critical region for understanding past patterns of socio-political development and interaction. Heavy vegetation, rugged topography, and remoteness have limited scientific investigation. This paper presents prehistoric patterns of settlement and landuse for a critical valley within the Mosquitia derived from airborne LiDAR scanning and field investigation. We show that (i) though today the valley is a wilderness it was densely inhabited in the past; (ii) that this population was organized into a three-tiered system composed of 19 settlements dominated by a city; and, (iii) that this occupation was embedded within a human engineered landscape. We also add to a growing body of literature that demonstrates the utility of LiDAR as means for rapid cultural assessments in undocumented regions for analysis and conservation. Our ultimate hope is for our work to promote protections to safeguard the unique and critically endangered Mosquitia ecosystem and other similar areas in need of preservation.

Archaeological prospection of north Eastern Honduras with airborne mapping LiDAR

In the last five years airborne mapping LiDAR has become an extremely valuable tool for archeologists studying ancient human settlements. It has proven especially useful in regions covered by dense forests on which prospection with other remote sensing techniques is not possible. However, due to the high upfront cost required to perform a LIDAR survey its use has been limited to expanding the knowledge of function and extent of previously well studied archaeological sites. In this paper we present results from a purely exploratory LiDAR survey that was conducted over the Mosquitia region of Honduras. From the geodetic images produced the archaeologists identified the first-ever large scale settlements documented in the region, a region for which a comprehensive record of inhabitation prior the European contact is still lacking.

New Perspectives on Purépecha Urbanism Through the Use of LiDAR at the Site of Angamuco, Mexico

Advances in LiDAR technology promise to change the way that ancient architectural remains are documented, analyzed, and managed at Mesoamerican urban centers. Here we discuss the way that LiDAR has helped document the location, temporal associations, and spatial arrangement of ancient architecture at the Purepecha city of Angamuco, located within the Lake Patzcuaro Basin, Michoacan, Mexico. Angamuco occupies a rugged topographic feature that has served to preserve ancient architectural features to a degree not typically seen within the region. As a supplement to full-coverage survey we obtained dense LiDAR data for 9 sq km of the settlement that clearly show over 20,000 architectural features from the urban core of the city. Through the use of LiDAR we were able to more quickly and accurately determine the size of the ancient city, better document the type and distribution of ancient features, and significantly change the manner in which we conducted the survey.

Agricultural Intensification in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin

Intensification of agricultural production figures prominently in theories for the origins of complexity, state building, and environmental change. Recent literature has focused on identifying exactly what intensification is, what causes people to increase inputs of labor, cultivation frequency, and productivity, and how intensification can be identified archaeologically (see Kirch 1994; Leach 1999; Morrison 1994, 1996, contribution in this volume). These treatments of intensification have important implications for the way that the concept has been used in Mesoamerica.

Intensification, Innovation, and Change

The contributors to this volume have tackled fundamental archaeological issues that have long been taken for granted — subsistence intensification, innovation and change. As an underlying assumption in many ‘bread and butter’ problems in prehistory — domestication, social complexity, state formation — the theoretical importance of such processes cannot be understated. What the editors found striking, leading to the development of this volume, is how little attention these topics have actually received. Since the intense flurry of activity around Boserup’s initial publications many decades ago, only a handful of treatments, as noted in our introductory chapter, do more than superficially reiterate these now-questionable theories. Instead, these long-held but unsupported assumptions borrowed from other disciplines have served as paradigmatic ‘place holders’.