Classic Maya Urbanism at Dzibanche Revealed by Airborne Lidar Mapping

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Rise and Apogee of the Classic Maya Kaanu’l Hegemonic State at Dzibanche" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Lidar survey of the city of Dzibanche reveals the city's settlement to be more extensive and populous than previously thought and consistent with its political reach as a hegemonic state. A closer look at the organization of public spaces within its center reveals architectural arrangements that appear to share many characteristics with Preclassic and Early Classic Peten centers. An extraordinarily well-developed system of causeways radiates out of the monumental zone to peripheral plaza groups revealing a vast network of political nodes and associated settlements forming a coherent and well-organized urban landscape interspersed with agricultural fields. The spatial organization and interconnectedness of these elite nodes and associated settlement suggests a concern with optimal flow of goods and people across a dense urban and peri-urban landscape seen only at a few other Maya centers. Lidar images also reveal the largest extensions of wetland agricultural fields ever recorded in the Maya Lowlands suggesting a portentous economic potential for Dzibanche, which may account for its ascent as political and economic superpower during the Classic period and its longevity as a settlement well into the Late Postclassic period.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Rise and Apogee of the Classic Maya Kaanu’l Hegemonic State at Dzibanche   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37945.0