Mapping Seasonally Inundated Wetlands within the Ancient Maya Center of El Pilar

Author(s): Thomas Crimmel; Yimeng Yan

Year: 2021

Summary

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

The ancient Maya center of El Pilar is a mid-sized settlement nestled on the ecotone dividing the central Peten and Belize river valley. With nearly half of the site consisting of seasonally inundated wetlands, defining the extent and nature of these areas is essential before interpreting El Pilar’s settlement patterns. Remotely sensed lidar and high-resolution satellite imagery can be used to describe the site’s topography, vegetation, and recent disturbances. Using this information to interpret the landscape, seasonally inundated wetlands can be delineated and described. These data, along with site scale settlement and soils data, are essential in describing how the ancient Maya of El Pilar managed the landscape to meet their needs.

Cite this Record

Mapping Seasonally Inundated Wetlands within the Ancient Maya Center of El Pilar. Thomas Crimmel, Yimeng Yan. Presented at The 86th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2021 ( tDAR id: 467818)

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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): 33611