The nature of earth mounds and their function over time in northern Australia is of ongoing acade... more The nature of earth mounds and their function over time in northern Australia is of ongoing academic debate. Here we present how the integration of ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetic data, after being adjusted for surface elevation changes, was used to analyse the interior features and objects within six earth mounds in Mapoon, western Cape York, Australia. These geophysical techniques were merged and interpreted jointly to produce images of the stratigraphic units and objects within the mounds to determine their extent and composition. It was found that some mounds were built over burned areas that contain large objects on the original ground surface. Those modified areas were then converted into substantial earth mounds, which reach a maximum height of about 4 m. Other mounds nearby show no evidence of pre‐construction burning. In one mound cluster the western three mounds contain human burials that were visualized using GPR profile interpretation. The nearby eastern three mounds were devoid of human burials, but contained many of the pre‐mound burned features seen in those just a few hundred metres to the west. The close proximity of these six mounds, with very different associated features and internal objects suggests that they are related in some way, but differed in their function. It is also possible that they were constructed at different times by different people. The data analysis techniques presented in this article assists with further opportunities to undertake non‐destructive investigations of these earth mounds that are culturally appropriate to living Aboriginal people. They will also help to resolve the function and possible importance of these constructed features over time.
The Belize River East Archaeology (BREA) project has continued to focus on survey, mapping, and e... more The Belize River East Archaeology (BREA) project has continued to focus on survey, mapping, and excavations of sites in the middle Belize Valley, particularly the ancient Maya site of Saturday Creek. Previously, we have suggested that Saturday Creek and its associated Hats Kaab “E-Group” marked an important crossroads in the middle Belize Valley. Here, we present an overview of our work this past season, which included re-mapping the site core of Saturday Creek using a Total Station and performing several test excavations. We also flew several unmanned aerial vehicles (otherwise known as “drones”) in the areas of cleared agricultural fields that surround the Saturday Creek site core. The drone mapping revealed an extraordinary density of mounds, particularly just north of the site core in the vicinity of the “E-Group,” indicating that this locale was a major focus of population aggregation in ancient times. The results of our mapping complement our previous GIS spatial analyses and studies of ceramic distribution patterns for this area in the eastern Belize Watershed. Combined, our studies leave little doubt that Saturday Creek and its vicinity marked a central node in the landscape, arguably because it served as a nexus between east-west and north-south trade and communication networks from Classic to Colonial times.
A component of the Chan Chich Dynastic Architecture Project (CCDAP) is the investigation of the c... more A component of the Chan Chich Dynastic Architecture Project (CCDAP) is the investigation of the construction history of the monumental structures surrounding the Upper Plaza. Looters cut trenches and tunnels into the two largest structures, Structure A-15 on the southern side of the plaza and Structure A-21 on the western side of the plaza, prior to the discovery of the Chan Chich in the late 1980s. The trenches and tunnels reveal that both buildings have complicated construction sequences that likely date back to the founding of the Upper Plaza. Documenting those construction sequences and identifying which phases of the two structures may be associated with the Terminal Preclassic ruler who was buried in Tomb 2 are primary concerns of the CCDAP. As an initial step toward understanding the architectural evolution of Structure A-15, we employed a new technique for producing high-resolution maps of Maya buildings at sites under dense canopy using a digital camera and Structure from Motion (SfM) software to process the images. The purpose of our work at Structure A-15 was to create an accurate map of the mound including the complex series of looters’ trenches that cut through it. Using SfM, our goals were to (a) produce a topographic map of the mound, (b) map the looters’ tunnels and trenches in three-dimensions, and (c) be able to merge both data sets into a single 3D model that could be exported and manipulated in CAD or GIS software. The work was funded by a grant to Houk through Texas Tech University’s Competitive Funding Opportunity to Advance Scholarship in the Creative Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Mark Willis of Archaeo-Geophysical Associates and Upper Plaza Operation Director Kelsey Herndon conducted the fieldwork with assistance from Lori Phillips between May 14 and 18, 2014.
While most archaeological measures of population rely on material proxies uncovered through excav... more While most archaeological measures of population rely on material proxies uncovered through excavation (rooms, hearths, etc.), we identify a technique to estimate population at unexcavated sites (the majority of the archaeological record). Our case study focuses on ancestral Tewa Pueblo villages in northern New Mexico. Uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV) and instrument mapping enables us to quantify the volume of adobe architectural rubble and to construct a decomposition model that estimates numbers of rooms and roofed over space. The resulting metric is applied at ten Pueblo villages in the region to ‘rebuild’ architecture, and calculate maximum architectural capacity and the maximum extent of population size. While our focus is on population histories for large Classic period (A.D. 1350–1598) pueblos in the American Southwest, the model and method may be applied to a variety of archaeological contexts worldwide and is not limited to building material, site size, or construction technique.
The nature of earth mounds and their function over time in northern Australia is of ongoing acade... more The nature of earth mounds and their function over time in northern Australia is of ongoing academic debate. Here we present how the integration of ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetic data, after being adjusted for surface elevation changes, was used to analyse the interior features and objects within six earth mounds in Mapoon, western Cape York, Australia. These geophysical techniques were merged and interpreted jointly to produce images of the stratigraphic units and objects within the mounds to determine their extent and composition. It was found that some mounds were built over burned areas that contain large objects on the original ground surface. Those modified areas were then converted into substantial earth mounds, which reach a maximum height of about 4 m. Other mounds nearby show no evidence of pre‐construction burning. In one mound cluster the western three mounds contain human burials that were visualized using GPR profile interpretation. The nearby eastern three mounds were devoid of human burials, but contained many of the pre‐mound burned features seen in those just a few hundred metres to the west. The close proximity of these six mounds, with very different associated features and internal objects suggests that they are related in some way, but differed in their function. It is also possible that they were constructed at different times by different people. The data analysis techniques presented in this article assists with further opportunities to undertake non‐destructive investigations of these earth mounds that are culturally appropriate to living Aboriginal people. They will also help to resolve the function and possible importance of these constructed features over time.
The Belize River East Archaeology (BREA) project has continued to focus on survey, mapping, and e... more The Belize River East Archaeology (BREA) project has continued to focus on survey, mapping, and excavations of sites in the middle Belize Valley, particularly the ancient Maya site of Saturday Creek. Previously, we have suggested that Saturday Creek and its associated Hats Kaab “E-Group” marked an important crossroads in the middle Belize Valley. Here, we present an overview of our work this past season, which included re-mapping the site core of Saturday Creek using a Total Station and performing several test excavations. We also flew several unmanned aerial vehicles (otherwise known as “drones”) in the areas of cleared agricultural fields that surround the Saturday Creek site core. The drone mapping revealed an extraordinary density of mounds, particularly just north of the site core in the vicinity of the “E-Group,” indicating that this locale was a major focus of population aggregation in ancient times. The results of our mapping complement our previous GIS spatial analyses and studies of ceramic distribution patterns for this area in the eastern Belize Watershed. Combined, our studies leave little doubt that Saturday Creek and its vicinity marked a central node in the landscape, arguably because it served as a nexus between east-west and north-south trade and communication networks from Classic to Colonial times.
A component of the Chan Chich Dynastic Architecture Project (CCDAP) is the investigation of the c... more A component of the Chan Chich Dynastic Architecture Project (CCDAP) is the investigation of the construction history of the monumental structures surrounding the Upper Plaza. Looters cut trenches and tunnels into the two largest structures, Structure A-15 on the southern side of the plaza and Structure A-21 on the western side of the plaza, prior to the discovery of the Chan Chich in the late 1980s. The trenches and tunnels reveal that both buildings have complicated construction sequences that likely date back to the founding of the Upper Plaza. Documenting those construction sequences and identifying which phases of the two structures may be associated with the Terminal Preclassic ruler who was buried in Tomb 2 are primary concerns of the CCDAP. As an initial step toward understanding the architectural evolution of Structure A-15, we employed a new technique for producing high-resolution maps of Maya buildings at sites under dense canopy using a digital camera and Structure from Motion (SfM) software to process the images. The purpose of our work at Structure A-15 was to create an accurate map of the mound including the complex series of looters’ trenches that cut through it. Using SfM, our goals were to (a) produce a topographic map of the mound, (b) map the looters’ tunnels and trenches in three-dimensions, and (c) be able to merge both data sets into a single 3D model that could be exported and manipulated in CAD or GIS software. The work was funded by a grant to Houk through Texas Tech University’s Competitive Funding Opportunity to Advance Scholarship in the Creative Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Mark Willis of Archaeo-Geophysical Associates and Upper Plaza Operation Director Kelsey Herndon conducted the fieldwork with assistance from Lori Phillips between May 14 and 18, 2014.
While most archaeological measures of population rely on material proxies uncovered through excav... more While most archaeological measures of population rely on material proxies uncovered through excavation (rooms, hearths, etc.), we identify a technique to estimate population at unexcavated sites (the majority of the archaeological record). Our case study focuses on ancestral Tewa Pueblo villages in northern New Mexico. Uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV) and instrument mapping enables us to quantify the volume of adobe architectural rubble and to construct a decomposition model that estimates numbers of rooms and roofed over space. The resulting metric is applied at ten Pueblo villages in the region to ‘rebuild’ architecture, and calculate maximum architectural capacity and the maximum extent of population size. While our focus is on population histories for large Classic period (A.D. 1350–1598) pueblos in the American Southwest, the model and method may be applied to a variety of archaeological contexts worldwide and is not limited to building material, site size, or construction technique.
Uploads
Papers by Chet Walker
As an initial step toward understanding the architectural evolution of Structure A-15, we employed a new technique for producing high-resolution maps of Maya buildings at sites under dense canopy using a digital camera and Structure from Motion (SfM) software to process the images. The purpose of our work at Structure A-15 was to create an accurate map of the mound including the complex series of looters’ trenches that cut through it. Using SfM, our goals were to (a) produce a topographic map of the mound, (b) map the looters’ tunnels and trenches in three-dimensions, and (c) be able to merge both data sets into a single 3D model that could be exported and manipulated in CAD or GIS software. The work was funded by a grant to Houk through Texas Tech University’s Competitive Funding Opportunity to Advance Scholarship in the Creative Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Mark Willis of Archaeo-Geophysical Associates and Upper Plaza Operation Director Kelsey Herndon conducted the fieldwork with assistance from Lori Phillips between May 14 and 18, 2014.
As an initial step toward understanding the architectural evolution of Structure A-15, we employed a new technique for producing high-resolution maps of Maya buildings at sites under dense canopy using a digital camera and Structure from Motion (SfM) software to process the images. The purpose of our work at Structure A-15 was to create an accurate map of the mound including the complex series of looters’ trenches that cut through it. Using SfM, our goals were to (a) produce a topographic map of the mound, (b) map the looters’ tunnels and trenches in three-dimensions, and (c) be able to merge both data sets into a single 3D model that could be exported and manipulated in CAD or GIS software. The work was funded by a grant to Houk through Texas Tech University’s Competitive Funding Opportunity to Advance Scholarship in the Creative Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Mark Willis of Archaeo-Geophysical Associates and Upper Plaza Operation Director Kelsey Herndon conducted the fieldwork with assistance from Lori Phillips between May 14 and 18, 2014.