Sensing the Subterranean: Problems and Prospects of GPR Survey at Yaxuná, Yucatan, Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper explores methodological opportunities for comparative settlement survey by applying ground-penetrating radar (GPR) as an augmentative remote sensing lens. In the last decade, remote sensing in Mesoamerica has undergone a renaissance through the application of Lidar to survey the landscape, providing immense quantities of data on new potential features. Yet, Lidar does not reveal everything. Similarly, GPR data alone require interpretation and minimal ground-truthing. Nevertheless, recent novel uses of the technology have shown great promise for revealing large-scale hidden features across the landscape. Using the site of Yaxuná, Yucatan, Mexico as an example, I argue that GPR can be an augmentative remote sensing lens to Lidar surveys. GPR survey and excavation revealed that Yaxuná’s nearly one-hectare E Group plaza was set in a cleared expanse of naturally flat bedrock 2 meters in depth lower than the surrounding landscape. Also, several large-scale architectural features, including architecture, causeways, and ritual features were detected and found to occur at distinct levels, showing the immense transformation of the site’s urban core in over 500 years of development. While excavation was critical to confirming these features in Yaxuná, its extent and associated site transformation could not have been determined through excavation alone.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33286