Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 29 (2020) 102178 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jasrep ‘Structure’ density, area, and volume as complementary tools to understand Maya Settlement: An analysis of lidar data along the great road between T Coba and Yaxuna ⁎ Travis W. Stantona, , Traci Ardrenb, Nicolas C. Barthc, Juan C. Fernandez-Diazd, Patrick Rohrera, Dominique Meyere, Stephanie J. Millera, Aline Magnonif, Manuel Pérezg a Department of Anthropology, University of California Riverside, 900 University Ave., Riverside, CA 92521, USA b Department of Anthropology, University of Miami, 900 University Ave., Riverside, CA 92521, USA c Department of Earth Sciences, University of California Riverside, 900 University Ave., Riverside, CA 92521, USA d NCALM, University of Houston, 5000 Gulf Freeway, Houston, TX 77204-5059, USA e CHEI, 2109 Atkinson Hall, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0436, USA f Cultural Heritage and Archaeology in the Maya Area, 4005 Hampden St., Kensington, MD 20895, USA g Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Av. Revolución 1900, Tizapán San Ángel, San Ángel, Ciudad de México, CDMX, CP 01000, Mexico ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: In this paper we present an analysis of lidar data along Sacbe 1, the longest causeway in Mesoamerica, con- Maya necting the sites of Coba and Yaxuna. In addition to performing an analysis of the density of polygons (utilized as Lidar a proxy for structures), we calculate the density of basal area and construction volume of the raised features seen Causeways in the data set. The results indicate that Maya sites in this region were fairly discrete and that the causeway was Yaxuna built to incorporate previously existing settlements dating prior to the period 600–700 CE. Further, the causeway Coba was an attractor of settlement in the area of state expansion. 1. Introduction defining visible architectural features drawn as overlays on bare-earth topography model visualizations. In this paper we present an alter- Since its first application in the tropical lowlands of the Maya area native method whereby the area and volume of contiguous archi- (Chase et al., 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013), lidar has quickly transformed tectural features visible in the lidar data are calculated and compared settlement archaeology and is now an essential tool utilized by an ever (see also Chase 2017; Schmidt et al., 2018). We perform our analysis on increasing number of projects (Brewer et al., 2017; Canuto et al., 2018; a lidar dataset that unites the sites of Coba, Quintana Roo and Yaxuna, Chase et al., 2014; Hare et al., 2014; Hutson et al., 2016; Inomata et al., Yucatan in the northern Maya lowlands of Mexico. These cities were 2017; Magnoni et al., 2016; Prufer et al., 2015; Rosenswig et al., 2013). connected by an approximately 100 km long causeway during the 7th Rather than a replacement for ground survey, it is clear that this century CE when the city of Coba appears to have experienced a period technology serves as a powerful complement to traditional techniques of extensive state expansion (Stanton et al., in press). utilized by archaeologists for nearly a century (see Ford and Horn 2018; Hutson et al., 2016; Magnoni et al., 2016; Prufer et al., 2015). Ground 2. Previous research and lidar data collection survey, however, will take a long time to catch up to the vast amounts of lidar data being gathered in recent years. In lieu of efforts to ground- The great causeway connecting the cities of Coba and Yaxuna, validate high quality surface models in areas where previous mapping known as Sacbe 1 (sacbe meaning white [sac] road [be] in Yukatec data do not exist, researchers have spent long hours digitizing visible Maya), caught the attention of the first archaeologists to perform sys- features, attempting to make sense of complex spatial patterning that, tematic research in the Maya lowlands (see Bennett, 1930; Thompson for the most part, lack chronological data. To date, this work has pri- et al., 1932; Villa Rojas, 1934). When this feature was first reported, the marily focused on calculating the number and density of polygons researchers of the Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) project at ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (T.W. Stanton), [email protected] (T. Ardren), [email protected] (N.C. Barth), [email protected] (J.C. Fernandez-Diaz), [email protected] (P. Rohrer), [email protected] (D. Meyer), [email protected] (S.J. Miller). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102178 Received 15 October 2019; Received in revised form 16 December 2019; Accepted 16 December 2019 Available online 31 December 2019 2352-409X/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T.W. Stanton, et al. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 29 (2020) 102178 Fig. 1. Area of the lidar surveys covered in 2014 and 2017. Fig. 2. Villa’s (1934) map of Sacbé 1 (redrawn by Tatiana González). Chichen Itza believed that the causeway connected that site with Coba, causeway system (Cortés de Brasdefer, 1981, 1984a, 1984b, 1984c; a large urban center located farther east towards the Caribbean (Fig. 1). Folan et al., 1983, 2009; Folan and Stuart, 1974, 1977; Gallareta However, after traversing the feature it was apparent that Yaxuna, a Negrón, 1981, 1984; Garduño Argueta, 1979). While the extensive and much smaller, but earlier site than Chichen Itza was the western ter- detailed maps of the domestic zones of the ancient city are well known, minus (Fig. 2). Despite the cursory survey by the CIW archaeologists this groundbreaking work had to contend with the arduous task of (Thompson et al., 1932; Villa Rojas, 1934) no systematic work was ground survey and transit mapping in a tropical forest environment, performed in association with Sacbe 1 until the Instituto Nacional de mitigating the amount of area that could be covered. While the cau- Antropología e Historia (INAH) project commenced at Coba in 1970s. seways present at the site, including the easternmost 4.5 km of Sacbe 1, The Classic period city of Coba is the largest known Prehispanic were mapped by the project, there was no effort to problematize this settlement in the northern lowlands of Quintana Roo, and is among the causeway as a specific focus of research (see Benavides, 1976, 1981). greatest cities of the Maya world (Navarrete et al., 1979; Thompson The next work related to Sacbe 1 was undertaken on the opposite et al., 1932); for comparison, while detailed comparisons of Maya end of the causeway when David Freidel directed research at Yaxuna urban centers are more complicated and need to take chronology and during the 1980s and 1990s. Much like the work at Coba, Freidel’s structure density into account, Chunchucmil, a contemporaneous city project (Selz Foundation Yaxuna Project) mapped a relatively short on the western side of the northern lowlands had an area of only 25 km2 segment (400 m) of the causeway and other associated architectural for its urban core, with 64 km2 calculated for a broader zone including features within the boundaries of the site (Stanton et al., 2010). In the suburbs and surrounding hamlets, but some integrated areas in the case of Yaxuna, however, excavations were conducted within the cau- south such as Caracol, Belize measure up to 200 km2 (Chase et al., seway and at the terminus building (Ardren, 2003). These excavations 2010, 2013; Hutson, 2010; Magnoni et al., 2012). Sprawling across suggested that the causeway was constructed and used during the approximately 63 km2, this urban center has very large monumental Yulum ceramic complex (equivalent to the Palmas ceramic complex at constructions and numerous carved monuments depicting bellicose Coba [see Robles Castellanos, 1990]), approximately 550–700 CE, rulers standing over bound captives. On some of these monuments placing it during the period of Coba’s apex (see Johnstone, 2001; Loya (dating to the period of the construction of Sacbe 1) the kaloomte’ title González, 2008; Loya González and Stanton, 2013, 2014; Robles (reserved for the highest rank of Maya royalty) was utilized (Esparza Castellanos, 1990; Shaw and Johnstone, 2001; Stanton and Freidel, Olguín, 2016; Guenter, 2014). Serving as a pioneering example of set- 2005; Stanton et al., in press; Suhler et al., 1998; Tiesler et al., 2017). tlement pattern archaeology in the Maya lowlands, mapping work at During this same period Yaxuna appears to have diminished in its po- the site during the 1970s covered what we estimate to be around litical importance and several researchers have suggested that it was 55–60% of the denser settlement articulating with the internal integrated into a state formation centered on Coba (Stanton and Freidel, 2 T.W. Stanton, et al. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 29 (2020) 102178 located block that included the majority of Chichen Itza, and two one kilometer wide transects. One of these transects connected the survey blocks around Chichen Itza and Yaxuna while the other was a rather short transect along the first four kilometers of Sacbe 1 towards Coba (Magnoni et al., 2016). These data were collected with an Optech Ge- mini, which can record up to four discrete returns per laser shot (first, second, third, and last), from 500 m above the ground level and at a nominal ground speed of 65 m/s. The scanner was operated at ± 14 degrees and 45 Hz, generating a swath width of 250 m with the swaths of adjacent lines overlaping by 50% laterally. The system range re- solution is about three meters, which implies that the sensor will not be able to detect distinct returns from objects that are separated by less than this distance along the trajectory of the laser pulse (such as returns coming from the top of short vegetation and the ground).