Preclassic Settlement Patterns and Natural Topography in the Mirador Karst Basin of Northern Guatemala
Author(s): Josephine Thompson; Carlos Morales; Richard Hansen; Ross Ensley
Year: 2021
Summary
This is an abstract from the "Recent Multidisciplinary Investigations in the Mirador Basin, Guatemala" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
A new model of Preclassic settlement patterns has emerged with the use of lidar to document a large-scale landscape in northern Guatemala. These patterns include highly sophisticated man-made hydrographic features, monolithic transportation networks, extensive residential complexes, and monumental civic complexes and associated natural topography. This new understanding of these inner-connected Preclassic Maya patterns sheds a light on the magnitude of the Preclassic demographic grandeur within the Mirador Karst Basin. The keen understanding of their natural world by the early Maya is demonstrated by their engineering of the natural landscape. With lidar, precise elevation measurements demonstrate how they engineered their structures, according to elevation and topography. In addition, a new understanding Mirador’s Karst Basin and its geography support the claim that the Cradle of Maya Civilization existed within this sophisticated cultural and natural system.
Cite this Record
Preclassic Settlement Patterns and Natural Topography in the Mirador Karst Basin of Northern Guatemala. Josephine Thompson, Carlos Morales, Richard Hansen, Ross Ensley. Presented at The 86th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2021 ( tDAR id: 467337)
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Keywords
Spatial Coverage
min long: -92.153; min lat: -4.303 ; max long: -50.977; max lat: 18.313 ;
Record Identifiers
Abstract Id(s): 33562