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VOLUME 34, ISSUE 1 January 2005 Measuring a Maya Metropolis: ISSN: 1524-9387 The use of remote sensing for settlement pattern research at the Classic Maya site of Chunchucmil, Yucatán, Inside this issue: New Maya University; 2 By David R. Hixson, Message from the Editor Tulane University, Graduate Student Research Fellow, NASA Measuring a Maya 3, 4 Metropolis, continued The ancient Maya of Mexico and Central America, long known for their grand Remote Sensing the 5 achievements in art and architecture, remain Maya Past and Future shrouded in a veil of mystery surrounding exactly how they were able to sustain such Featured Maya Site: 6 large populations. While there has been , localized evidence of intensive agricultural January Lineup of 7 techniques (such as terracing and canalized IMS Presentations and fields) in some areas of the Maya lowlands, Membership Application such practices do not appear to have been widespread (Fedick 1996; Harrison and Current Events 8 Turner 1978; Pope and Dahlin 1989). and Announcements Researchers investigating this topic have recently turned to remote sensing IMS General Meeting techniques in order to address such issues on a regional scale. The majority of large January 19 Classic period sites, however, lie deep Chunchucmil is located near the in the within the jungles of Mexico and Central northwestern quadrant of the Yucatán Peninsula. America, buried beneath a canopy of dense vegetation. Efforts to pierce this canopy Dahlin et al. 2000; Vlcek et al. 1978; with remote sensing techniques have yielded Wilson 1980). Lacking the towering canopies mixed, though occasionally positive, results of tropical forest that cover much of the (Adams 1982; Corbley 1999; Folan, Marcus southern Maya lowlands, the Chunchucmil and Miller 1995; Pope and Dahlin 1989; region therefore provides a potentially ideal Scarborough 1983; Sever 1998). location to test the capabilities of remote One large Classic period center, sensing for Maya archaeology. “Chichén Itzá: however, stands apart in its ecological Surface soils blanketing the area rarely Past and Present” location and surface manifestations. exceed 0.30–1.0 meters in depth, barely The Classic Maya site of Chunchucmil is enough to cover the most modest archaeo- Ceramic evidence for the site’s located in the dry scrub-forest near the coastal logical features. In fact, it is estimated that cultural history...with and seasonal of northwest as much as 50% of the terrain surrounding Eduardo Pérez Yucatán within an ecological zone described Chunchucmil is composed of exposed as “semi-arid” or “semi-desert” (Beach 1998; continued on page 3

The Institute of Maya Studies Newsletter is published 12 times a year by The Institute of Maya Studies, Inc. Jim Reed, 3280 South Miami Avenue, Miami, Florida 33129. The Institute is a non-profit corporation. The newsletter Editor is available to IMS members and by subscription. See Membership Application on page 7. ©2005 I.M.S. Inc. Measuring a Metropolis: By David R. Hixson continued from page 1 bedrock (Beach 1998). Agri- The remote culture in this region is highly susceptible sensing data currently to drought conditions and wildfires, as in use by the project annual rainfall totals are among the include satellite photos lowest of all the Maya area (Beach 1998; (largely from the Wilson 1980). Landsat 7 ETM+ sensor), Additionally, viable agricultural aerial photographs, and land is at a premium, due to the vast newly acquired radar expanses of seasonally inundated imagery. A similar array This is the first published AIRSAR image of downtown land that borders Chunchucmil of data sources provided Chunchucmil, and it shows that the sensor can detect even modest pyramidal architecture beneath a thin forest canopy. to its west. These seasonal wetlands are the necessary tools for flooded both from above (through local- archaeologists to uncover the exact imagery, we found relatively dense ized rainfall) and from below (through location of the “lost” city of Wakná mounded limestone architecture. sub-surface artesian springs fed by the in (Corbley 1999). There, There is, however, a catch. We Yucatán aquifer after especially heavy archaeologists were searching for a found that the Landsat satellite must be rains in the interior of the peninsula). towering pyramid in the middle of the able to “see” the ground surface (without rainforest of the Petén. In contrast, the too much leafy vegetation or cloud Provisions for the population geography and ecology of the Chun- cover), yet conditions are best when Some areas immediately west of Chun- chucmil region allows us to locate the soil is saturated. This is a difficult chucmil are under as much as half a archaeological sites and structures combination in the Maya area. When meter of water during prime growing of even the most humble dimensions. the rains come, vegetation sprouts and seasons and are therefore unsuitable We began with the “known” (the blankets the landscape, reducing the for slash-and-burn . Yet, the site center on our architectural map) and contrast between the broken limestone paradox remains that Chunchucmil’s proceeded to the “unknown” (the western mounds and flat saturated soils. During population is currently estimated as wetlands between the site center and the the dry season, leaf-off conditions allow having been one of the highest of all Gulf of Mexico). First, by overlaying our for better penetration to the ground Classic period Maya cities (Dahlin 2000; map of Chunchucmil with the remotely surface, but the spectral contrast between Dahlin and Ardren 2002). How did this sensed data, we were able to examine limestone mounds and rocky dry ground large city provide food for its inhabitants how ancient structures are reflected is minimized. We are therefore fortunate in a region that currently boasts one of (quite literally) in the imagery. It was to have obtained an early rainy season the lowest yield potentials in southeastern immediately clear that even the low- image with minimal vegetation and no ? resolution Landsat data (each pixel in a cloud cover. This question was first raised in Landsat scene is roughly 25 m in width) 1978 (Vlcek et al. 1978) and is now one was able to detect areas with dense Pr eliminary results of the many questions being addressed by residential architecture. The preliminary results are astounding. the Pakbeh Regional Economy Project, We then looked for similar The ancient city of Chunchucmil may directed by Dr. Bruce Dahlin (Howard reflectance values (the “signature” have once covered an area larger than University) and Dr. Scott Hutson indicating architecture) in areas outside 64 km2. Its shape was likely amoebic, (UC-Santa Cruz), along with graduate of our current map, and overlaid a set with vacant pockets within its vague students Aline Magnoni (Tulane), of aerial photographs taken when the boundaries. Based upon the portions David Hixson (Tulane) and Dan Mazeau area had been clear-cut for growing that we’ve mapped, it was a sprawling (SUNY-Buffalo). henequen in the 1970s. Again, the city, with winding paths leading in and This multidisciplinary project has satellite imagery clearly detected out of the site center between boundary drawn together specialists in archaeology, areas of habitation visible in the walls of residential groups. On the out- anthropology, geology, paleobotany and aerial photographs. skirts, the boundary walls are placed paleoclimatology. One of our research further apart, while at the very edge goals is the completion of a regional Widening our perspective of the city and beyond, the countryside settlement pattern analysis based upon We then wanted to examine areas on residents rarely felt the need to erect pedestrian surveys a well as remotely the outskirts of Chunchucmil that were walls around their homes. sensed data from archaeological survey outside of both our map and our high Through remote sensing and information acquired from aerial and resolution aerial photos, but within the ground observations, we have demon- space-borne remote sensors. We hope field of view of the Landsat satellite. strated what has been surmised for the results will provide new insights We left our laptops in the lab and used decades. Chunchucmil was big. But how into the diverse economic and handheld GPS units to navigate to various does this help us solve the mystery of subsistence strategies practiced points of interest. At every point where how such a large city survived in by the ancient Maya. architecture was implied in the Landsat this region? cont. on page 4 Measuring a Metropolis: References cited: Adams, R. E. W. – Ancient Maya Canals: By David R. Hixson continued from page 3 Grids and Lattices in the Maya Jungle, Archaeology, 35(6):28-35, 1982. The answer may rest in our ongoing Beach, T. – Soil Constraints on Northwest research into the seasonal wetlands Yucatán: Pedoarchaeology and Subsistence at Chunchucmil, west of Chunchucmil. Geoarchaeology, 13(8):759-791, 1998. When we began our work, only Corbley, K. P. – Pioneering Search for a two sites were known to exist in the Primitive City, GeoInfo Systems, seasonally inundated zone. At that point, 9(6):30-34, 1999. Dahlin, B. H. – The Barricade and these two sites were viewed as possible Abandonment of Chunchucmil: rest-stops when crossing an unpopulated Implications for Northern Maya Warfare, swampy landscape on the way to the Latin American Antiquity, 11(3):283-298, coast. We placed an arbitrary grid over 2000. Survey crew stands upon the remains of an Dahlin, B. H. and T. Ardren – Modes of the satellite image of the wetlands, and ancient platform at a site within the seasonal Exchange and Their Effects on Regional surveyed randomly selected locations wetlands discovered using satellite imagery. and Urban Patterns at Chunchucmil, across the landscape, so that we could Yucatán, Mexico. Ancient Maya Political where Dr. Scott Fedick (Fedick et al. document the surface characteristics Economies, edited by M. A. Masson and 2000) has found rock alignments that D. Freidel, pp. 249-284, 2002, Altamira of a variety of micro-ecological zones. may have functioned as water and Press, Walnut Creek, CA. Inevitably, we encountered more Fedick, S. – New Perspectives on Ancient erosion management features, to create archaeological sites. We found, when Maya Agriculture and Resource Use, agricultural land out of the seasonally comparing their reflectance values to The Managed Mosaic: Ancient Maya inundated bajos. We have found nearly Agriculture and Resource Use, edited by those of the site center of Chunchucmil, identical rock alignments in the seasonal S. Fedick, pp. 1-14, 1996, University of that we could detect a number of proba- Utah Press, Salt Lake City, UT. wetlands west of Chunchucmil, although ble locations for secondary sites in the Fedick, S., B. Morrison, B. J. Andersen, S. we have not yet demonstrated that they western wetlands using the satellite Boucher, J. Ceja Acosta, and J. Mathews could have served the same function. – Manipulation in the Yalahau imagery. With GPS units again in-hand, In addition to the data from Region of the Northern Maya Lowlands, we navigated to these locations and found Journal of Field Archaeology, Chunchucmil and the Yalahau fracture evidence of habitation in every case. 27:131-152, 2000. zone, recent archaeological and remote Therefore, while the Pakbeh Folan, W., J. Marcus and W. F. Miller – sensing projects at sites like , and Verification of a Maya Settlement Regional Economy Project continues other areas of the Petén, have shown Model Through Remote Sensing, to examine various ways in which the Cambridge Archaeological Journal, that Preclassic and Classic period sprawling city of Chunchucmil may have 5(2):277-283, 1995. communities of the southern lowlands sustained itself in the semi-arid northern Gidwitz, T. – Pioneers of the Bajo, may have been similarly established Archaeology, 55(1):28-35, 2002. plains, including trade with the coast and in seasonal wetlands (Gidwitz 2002). Harrison, P. and B. L. Turner II – Prehispanic specialized agricultural techniques Maya Agriculture, 1978, University of New

(infield gardens), we are drawn to the Mexico Press, Albuquerque. Conclusions possibility that the western wetlands Pope, K., Dahlin, B. – Ancient Maya Wetland A growing picture is forming that the Agriculture: New Insights from Ecological may have been a valuable resource in ancient Maya did not likely view the and Remote Sensing Research, Journal the regional economy. According to our of Field Archaeology, 16(1):87-106, 1989. seasonal bajos of the northern or southern remotely sensed data, dense settlement Scarborough, V. L. – Raised Field Detections lowlands as formidable obstacles to from the city extends up to the very limit at , Northern , BAR settlement, as we do today, but instead as International Series – Oxford British of seasonal inundation and then compact rich, replenishing resource zones for an Archaeological Reports, vol. 189, communities are found perched upon the pp. 123-136, 1983. increasingly dense population. Studies slightest of rises further into the wetlands, Sever, T. – Validating Prehistoric and Current such as these will increasingly illuminate while ancient field houses are found in Social Phenomena Upon the Landscape the diversity of adaptations the ancient of the Petén, Guatemala, People and the most isolated locations in the midst Maya employed to sustain their Pixels: Linking Remote Sensing and of the seasonal swamp. Social Sciences, edited by D. Liverman, populations and polities, and must E. F. Moran, R. R. Rindfuss, and P. eventually address what role these Wetlands use elsewhere C. Stern, pp. 145-163, 2002, National adaptations played in their collapse.1 Academy Press, Washington D.C. The larger implications of this archaeo- Vlcek, D., S. Garza Terazona de Gonzalez, and logical and remote sensing survey are 1 The results discussed in this report are E. Kurjack – Contemporary Maya Farming similar to recent findings in other parts of preliminary, and will continue to be tested and Ancient Maya Settlements: Some the Maya world. The ancient Maya were in upcoming field seasons. Our newest Disconcerting Evidence, Pre-Hispanic acquisition is a synthetic aperture radar image Maya Agriculture, edited by P. Harrison innovators, adapting their subsistence by NASA-JPL’s AIRSAR platform. This and B. Turner, 1978, University of New strategies to unique environments across platform provides a high-resolution digital Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM. the lowlands. For example, the ecology elevation model (topographic map) of the Wilson, E. – Physical Geography of the of Chunchucmil’s western wetlands is ground surface. We have only begun to Yucatan Peninsula, Yucatán: A World work with this data, but as you can see in Apart, edited by E. Moseley and E. Terry, most similar to the Yalahau fracture zone the image on page 3, the results promise pp. 1-40, 1980, University of Alabama of Quintana Roo, to be impressive. Press, Tuscaloosa, AL.