The Urban Origins Project at Quiotepec-Oxtotitlán, Guerrero

Summary

The large Early to Late Formative site of Quiotepec-Oxtotitlán, best known for Oxtotitlán Cave and its associated Middle to Late Formative polychrome murals, is the site of on-going archaeological research since 2012 by the Urban Origins Project. Our goal is twofold: to develop a richly detailed documentation of the art and its physical and chronological context at Quiotepec-Oxotitlán and to investigate the political economic underpinnings of the artistic production and possible elements of a ritual economy at the site and within the broader region. Over the course of three seasons of research, we have focused on the development of a new, high resolution and three-dimensional record of the art and its immediate archaeological context, as well as the study of the larger Formative community in the surrounding region. Our research has involved satellite and drone-based remote sensing, ground mapping, geophysical prospection, and exploratory excavations. In this paper, we discuss our use of photogrammetric and structure-in-motion techniques coupled with micro drone-based aerial survey to develop a detailed three-dimensional map of the site and its natural and architectural details as one element of our broader research at the ancient community.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Cave Art and Archaeology at Oxtotitlán, Guerrero

Keywords

Spatial Coverage