Jason Yaeger

Ancient Maya Regional Settlement and Inter-Site Analysis: The 2013 West-Central Belize LiDAR Survey

During April and May 2013, a total of 1057 km2 of LiDAR was flown by NCALM for a consortium of archaeologists working in West-central Belize, making this the largest surveyed area within the Mayan lowlands. Encompassing the Belize Valley and the Vaca Plateau, West-central Belize is one of the most actively researched parts of the Maya lowlands; however, until this effort, no comprehensive survey connecting all settlement had been conducted. Archaeological projects have investigated at least 18 different sites within this region. Thus, a large body of archaeological research provides both the temporal and spatial parameters for the varied ancient Maya centers that once occupied this area; importantly, these data can be used to help interpret the collected LiDAR data. The goal of the 2013 LiDAR campaign was to gain information on the distribution of ancient Maya settlement and sites on the landscape and, particularly, to determine how the landscape was used between known centers. The data that were acquired through the 2013 LiDAR campaign have significance for interpreting both the composition and limits of ancient Maya political units. This paper presents the initial results of these new data and suggests a developmental model for ancient Maya polities.

On the logic of archaeological inference: Early Formative pottery and the evolution of Mesoamerican societies

The 2005 articles by Stoltman et al. and Flannery et al. to which Neff et al. (this issue) have responded are not an indictment of instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) but, rather, of the way Blomster et al. (2005) misuse it and of the hyperbolic culture-historical claims they have made from their INAA results. It has long been acknowledged that INAA leads not to sources but to chemical composition groups. Based on composition groups derived from an extremely unsystematic collection of sherds from only seven localities, Blomster et al. claim that the Olmec received no carved gray or kaolin white pottery from other regions; they also claim that neighboring valleys in the Mexican highlands did not exchange such pottery with each other. Not only can one not leap directly from the elements in potsherds to such sweeping culture-historical conclusions, it is also the case that other lines of evidence (including petrographic analysis) have for 40+ years produced empirical evidence to the contrary. In the end, it was their commitment to an unfalsifiable model of Olmec superiority that led Blomster et al. to bypass the logic of archaeological inference.

Locating and Dating Sites Using Lidar Survey in a Mosaic Landscape in Western Belize

Abstract We use the results of a high-resolution lidar survey to assess the advantages and limitations of archaeological applications of lidar data and address some of its methodological challenges. Our data come from the Mopan and Macal River valleys in western Belize, a region that includes several ancient Maya political centers and their hinterlands. Visual inspection of the lidar data has revealed many new sites and new features at previously mapped sites, and these findings significantly enhance our understanding of the valleys cultural history and political dynamics. By comparing data from prior systematic pedestrian surveys, visual and TPI analysis of the lidar data, and analysis of other remotely sensed data, we assess the limits of mound visibility in the lidar data and examine how vegetation and topographic factors impact those limits. We also present slope analysis as a useful tool for predicting whether mounds were constructed in the Preclassic period (1000 B.C.–A.D. 250) or the Classic period (A.D. 250–900).

Reconfiguraciôn de un espacio sagrado : Los inkas y la pirámide Pumapunku en Tiwanaku, Bolivia

Las cronicas dan cuenta que Tiwanaku fue una sede de gran importancia politica para el imperio Inka, pues en esta residia un gobernador imperial, suyoyoc apu; de igual forma hacen mencion a la existencia de un palacio real, en el cual presumiblemente nacio Manco Capac, hijo de Huayna Capac. Los Inkas consideraron a Tiwanaku un sitio sagrado de gran relevancia, a la par con la Isla del Sol y Pachacamac. Segun uno de los relatos Inkas referidos a la Creacion, Tiwanaku fue el sitio en el que Viracocha dio origen a las parejas primigenias de todas las etnias. Los edificios y esculturas existentes en el sitio constituian pruebas concretas de estos sucesos, y es en este marco que proponemos discutir el rol de Tiwanaku en la ideologia Inka. El presente articulo se enfoca en la piramide de Pumapunku, con el objetivo de entender la razon que impulso a los Inkas en la eleccion de esta estructura como el nucleo ritual de su asentamiento en la region, y demostrar a la vez como modificaron dicho complejo de acuerdo a su cosmologia y su historia mitica. Se propone, ademas, un marco interpretativo para ayudar a comprender como la materializacion y manifestacion de dicha historia mitica, sumada a las actividades efectuadas en el espacio reconfigurado, ayudaban a legitimizar el dominio ejercido por los Inkas sobre las poblaciones andinas

Professional archaeology and the modern Maya: A historical sketch

This book presents the current state of Maya archaeology by focusing on the history of the field for the last 100 years, present day research, and forward looking prescription for the direction of the field.