This paper addresses issues surrounding the political landscape in the Marques de Comillas and Be... more This paper addresses issues surrounding the political landscape in the Marques de Comillas and Benemerito de las Americas regions near the confluence of the Usumacinta and Lacantun Rivers in Chiapas, Mexico. We interpret this area as associated with the poorly understood Lakamtuun dynasty, known from inscriptions throughout the Usumacinta, Selva Lacandona, and Pasion River regions. Epigraphers have suggested that the archaeological site of El Palma is a strong candidate for one of the seats of the Lakamtuun kingdom. We combine aerial remote sensing data from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's GLiHT LiDAR system, reprocessed for archaeological applications, with drone photogrammetry, reconnaissance, and preliminary excavations at El Palma and the nearby sites of Yaxun, San Lorenzo, Benemerito de las Americas, Primera Seccion, and others. We present more complete and precise maps of El Palma and Benemerito de las Americas, Primera Seccion and provide preliminary analysis. We suggest that El Palma and Benemerito de las Americas are primary centers within the region and that both sites could have served as seats of the Lakamtuun dynasty (or another powerful polity) in a model of shifting capitals or political cycling.
(https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00934690.2019.1684748) In this article, we provide ... more (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00934690.2019.1684748) In this article, we provide the results of preliminary archaeological and epigraphic research undertaken at the site of Lacanjá Tzeltal, Chiapas. Field research conducted in 2018, in collaboration with local community members, has allowed us to identify this archaeological site as the capital of a kingdom known from Classic period Maya inscriptions as “Sak Tz’i’” (White Dog). Because all previously known references to the kingdom came from looted monuments or texts found at other Maya centers, the location of the Sak Tz’i’ kingdom’s capital has been the subject of ongoing modeling and debate among scholars. Here we synthesize prior epigraphic and archaeological research concerning Sak Tz’i’, highlighting past efforts to locate the kingdom’s capital. We then discuss the results of preliminary survey, mapping, and excavations of Lacanjá Tzeltal, and present the first drawing and decipherment of Lacanjá Tzeltal Panel 1, the sculpture crucial for centering this “lost” Maya kingdom.
This paper presents a preliminary archaeological assessment of extensive transects of lidar recen... more This paper presents a preliminary archaeological assessment of extensive transects of lidar recently collected by environmental scientists over southern Mexico using the G-LiHT system of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. In particular, this article offers the results of a first phase of research, consisting of: 1) characterization and classification of the cultural and ecological context of the samples, and 2) bare earth processing and visual inspection of a sample of the flight paths for identification of probable anthropogenic Precolumbian features. These initial results demonstrate that significant contributions to understanding variations in Precolumbian land-use and settlement patterns and change is possible with truly multi-regional lidar surveys not originally captured for archaeological prospection. We point to future directions for the development of archaeological applications of this robust data set. Finally, we offer the potential for enriching archaeological research through tightly coupled collaborations with environmental science and monitoring. Archaeologists in the neotropics can acquire more data, better realize the full potential of lidar surveys, and better contribute to interdisciplinary studies of human-environmental dynamic systems through regionally focused and collaborative scientific research.
Paper presented at the 81st Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archaeology, Orlando, Flori... more Paper presented at the 81st Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archaeology, Orlando, Florida.
This paper addresses issues surrounding the political landscape in the Marques de Comillas and Be... more This paper addresses issues surrounding the political landscape in the Marques de Comillas and Benemerito de las Americas regions near the confluence of the Usumacinta and Lacantun Rivers in Chiapas, Mexico. We interpret this area as associated with the poorly understood Lakamtuun dynasty, known from inscriptions throughout the Usumacinta, Selva Lacandona, and Pasion River regions. Epigraphers have suggested that the archaeological site of El Palma is a strong candidate for one of the seats of the Lakamtuun kingdom. We combine aerial remote sensing data from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's GLiHT LiDAR system, reprocessed for archaeological applications, with drone photogrammetry, reconnaissance, and preliminary excavations at El Palma and the nearby sites of Yaxun, San Lorenzo, Benemerito de las Americas, Primera Seccion, and others. We present more complete and precise maps of El Palma and Benemerito de las Americas, Primera Seccion and provide preliminary analysis. We suggest that El Palma and Benemerito de las Americas are primary centers within the region and that both sites could have served as seats of the Lakamtuun dynasty (or another powerful polity) in a model of shifting capitals or political cycling.
(https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00934690.2019.1684748) In this article, we provide ... more (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00934690.2019.1684748) In this article, we provide the results of preliminary archaeological and epigraphic research undertaken at the site of Lacanjá Tzeltal, Chiapas. Field research conducted in 2018, in collaboration with local community members, has allowed us to identify this archaeological site as the capital of a kingdom known from Classic period Maya inscriptions as “Sak Tz’i’” (White Dog). Because all previously known references to the kingdom came from looted monuments or texts found at other Maya centers, the location of the Sak Tz’i’ kingdom’s capital has been the subject of ongoing modeling and debate among scholars. Here we synthesize prior epigraphic and archaeological research concerning Sak Tz’i’, highlighting past efforts to locate the kingdom’s capital. We then discuss the results of preliminary survey, mapping, and excavations of Lacanjá Tzeltal, and present the first drawing and decipherment of Lacanjá Tzeltal Panel 1, the sculpture crucial for centering this “lost” Maya kingdom.
This paper presents a preliminary archaeological assessment of extensive transects of lidar recen... more This paper presents a preliminary archaeological assessment of extensive transects of lidar recently collected by environmental scientists over southern Mexico using the G-LiHT system of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. In particular, this article offers the results of a first phase of research, consisting of: 1) characterization and classification of the cultural and ecological context of the samples, and 2) bare earth processing and visual inspection of a sample of the flight paths for identification of probable anthropogenic Precolumbian features. These initial results demonstrate that significant contributions to understanding variations in Precolumbian land-use and settlement patterns and change is possible with truly multi-regional lidar surveys not originally captured for archaeological prospection. We point to future directions for the development of archaeological applications of this robust data set. Finally, we offer the potential for enriching archaeological research through tightly coupled collaborations with environmental science and monitoring. Archaeologists in the neotropics can acquire more data, better realize the full potential of lidar surveys, and better contribute to interdisciplinary studies of human-environmental dynamic systems through regionally focused and collaborative scientific research.
Paper presented at the 81st Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archaeology, Orlando, Flori... more Paper presented at the 81st Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archaeology, Orlando, Florida.
Uploads