Coba's Periphery and Rethinking Site Boundaries

Summary

Time and again the application of new technologies has allowed archaeologists to rethink their understandings of ancient cultural landscapes. Lidar, in particular, is one technology that has rapidly transformed our analytical capabilities by simultaneously providing wide regional and finely localized views of archaeological sites. In this paper, we present new lidar data that is reshaping our understanding of the Northern Maya Lowland metropolis of Coba. In particular we discuss features on Coba’s peripheries that alter previous understandings of Coba’s site boundaries and also discuss the possible influence of roads in shaping Coba’s site development. Finally, we evaluate earlier models of site boundaries and challenge the concept of a uniform or solitary border that defines a site.

Cite this Record

Coba's Periphery and Rethinking Site Boundaries. Stephanie Miller, Aline Magnoni, Traci Ardren, Travis Stanton. Presented at The 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Washington, DC. 2018 ( tDAR id: 444298)

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Spatial Coverage

min long: -94.197; min lat: 16.004 ; max long: -86.682; max lat: 21.984 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20221