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The Holocene and Anthropocene Environmental History of Mexico pp 249–271Cite as

Lidar at El Pilar: Understanding Vegetation Above and Discovering the Ground Features Below in the Maya Forest

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Abstract

Lidar data from El Pilar shows great potential for understanding the ancient and contemporary Maya forest landscape. Exploring these rich three-dimensional data with ground visualization strategies using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), our field validation strategy integrates the twenty-first-century tools Lidar, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and GIS with time-tested methods of field observation and assessment of surface features and vegetation. While there is no doubt Lidar is a stimulating addition to the geographical and archaeological tool kit, we recognize it is essential to understand the sources of features our visualizations reveal. Our survey protocol evaluates human impacts on the forest environment by identifying and mapping ancient cultural features, recording basic characteristics of vegetation, and deriving information to extrapolate to the expanding database of Lidar coverage in the Maya Lowlands. Based on emerging results supporting the viability of the milpa-forest garden land-use cycle at the regional and local scales, we hypothesize the Maya created land-use strategies that can be modeled and tested at the site scale at El Pilar.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Interestingly the Roman god of forests

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Acknowledgments

Our Lidar project owes much to Anfield Nickel and its associated company Mayaniquel. They have generously donated air photo and Lidar coverage for the El Pilar Archaeological Reserve. Our fieldwork was possible with the support of Exploring Solutions Past and numerous contributors through Experiment.com. Our field activities were accomplished with the support of Lic. Paulino Morales and Master Forest Gardener Narciso Torres. We gratefully thank the Institute of Archaeology Belize and the Instituto de Antropología e Historia Guatemala for their continued support of research and development at the El Pilar Archaeological Reserve for Maya Flora and Fauna.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ISBER/MesoAmerican Research Center, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Anabel Ford

  2. Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI, USA

    Sherman W. Horn III

Authors
  1. Anabel Ford
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  2. Sherman W. Horn III
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Correspondence to Anabel Ford .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento Conservación de la Biodiversidad, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur Unidad Chetumal, Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico

    Nuria Torrescano- Valle

  2. Departamento Conservación de la Biodiversidad, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur Unidad Chetumal, Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico

    Gerald A. Islebe

  3. Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoCiudad Universitaria, Mexico City, Mexico

    Priyadarsi D. Roy

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Ford, A., Horn III, S.W. (2019). Lidar at El Pilar: Understanding Vegetation Above and Discovering the Ground Features Below in the Maya Forest. In: Torrescano- Valle, N., Islebe, G., Roy, P. (eds) The Holocene and Anthropocene Environmental History of Mexico. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31719-5_12

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