Abstract
Advances in LiDAR technology promise to change the way that ancient architectural remains are documented, analyzed, and managed at Mesoamerican urban centers. Here we discuss the way that LiDAR has helped document the location, temporal associations, and spatial arrangement of ancient architecture at the Purépecha city of Angamuco, located within the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Michoacán, Mexico. Angamuco occupies a rugged topographic feature that has served to preserve ancient architectural features to a degree not typically seen within the region. As a supplement to full-coverage survey we obtained dense LiDAR data for 9 sq km of the settlement that clearly show over 20,000 architectural features from the urban core of the city. Through the use of LiDAR we were able to more quickly and accurately determine the size of the ancient city, better document the type and distribution of ancient features, and significantly change the manner in which we conducted the survey.
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Acknowledgements
This work was made possible by a dedicated team of graduate and undergraduate students from North America, Mexico, and Europe. This work was funded by a National Science Foundation award to Christopher Fisher (BCS 0818662), A NASA Space Archaeology award to Stephen Leisz and Christopher Fisher, and Colorado State University. Merrick and Co. provided assistance with LiDAR acquisition and the use of MARS LiDAR software. Trimble provided assistance with GPS and handheld computers. We would like to thank the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico, for permits, support, and guidance. Three anonymous reviewers provided useful comments and suggestions.
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Appendix 1: LiDAR Technical Data
Appendix 1: LiDAR Technical Data
During the LiDAR data collection, the operator recorded weather conditions, LiDAR operation parameters, and flight line statistics. Before the flight two GPS base stations were established and 4 GPS control points surrounding the area where LiDAR collection took place were established. A five-minute INS initialization was conducted on the ground, with aircraft engines running. Near the end of the mission GPS ambiguities were again resolved by flying within 10 km of the GPS base stations to aid in post-processing of the data. The horizontal datum used was WGS84, the vertical datum was the Gravimetric Geoid (GGMO5). The geoid was converted to ellipsoid heights to orthometric heights. The coordinate system was UTM Zone 14 and all units were in meters. Sixteen ground returns per meter (1 return every 25 cm) were specified in the protocol. Accuracy in the horizontal and vertical were reported at no worse than 0.027m and NSSDA Achievable contour intervals, ASPRS Class 1 achievable contour intervals, and NMAS achievable contour intervals are reported as being 0.05 m. All LiDAR data was processed using MARS proprietary software.
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Fisher, C.T., Leisz, S.J. (2013). New Perspectives on Purépecha Urbanism Through the Use of LiDAR at the Site of Angamuco, Mexico. In: Mapping Archaeological Landscapes from Space. SpringerBriefs in Archaeology(), vol 5. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6074-9_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6074-9_16
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