TY - JOUR
T1 - Origins and spread of formal ceremonial complexes in the Olmec and Maya regions revealed by airborne lidar
AU - Inomata, Takeshi
AU - Fernandez-Diaz, Juan Carlos
AU - Triadan, Daniela
AU - García Mollinedo, Miguel
AU - Pinzón, Flory
AU - García Hernández, Melina
AU - Flores, Atasta
AU - Sharpe, Ashley
AU - Beach, Timothy
AU - Hodgins, Gregory W.L.
AU - Durón Díaz, Juan Javier
AU - Guerra Luna, Antonio
AU - Guerrero Chávez, Luis
AU - Hernández Jiménez, María de Lourdes
AU - Moreno Díaz, Manuel
N1 - Funding Information: The permit for our research was granted by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH). We thank the personnel of the Centro INAH Tabasco, especially its director C. Giordano, J. L. Romero and J. Lagunes for their help and information on Pajonal and Kilómetro15. Funding was provided by the Alphawood Foundation and the National Science Foundation (BCS-1826909) to T.I. and D.T. Thoughtful comments on earlier drafts were provided by B. Stark, D. Stuart, A. Cyphers, J. Clark, R. Rosenswig and A. Aveni. We also thank W. Stoner and T. Pugh for discussions on southern Veracruz and Nixtun-Ch’ich’. We are grateful to E. Martínez and S. Fallas of the CCGS for sharing their lidar data. W. Witschey and C. Brown kindly shared their Electronic Atlas of Ancient Maya Sites data. R. González kindly allowed us to redraw the map of La Venta. J. MacLellan and M. Burham compiled the INEGI lidar data, and L. Auld-Thomas provided instructions for the production of RRIM. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2021/11
Y1 - 2021/11
N2 - City plans symbolizing cosmologies have long been recognized as a defining element of Mesoamerican civilizations. The origins of formal spatial configurations are thus the key to understanding early civilizations in the region. Assessment of this issue, however, has been hindered by the lack of systematic studies of site plans over broad areas. Here, we report the identification of 478 formal rectangular and square complexes, probably dating from 1,050 to 400 bc, through a lidar (laser imaging, detection and ranging) survey across the Olmec region and the western Maya lowlands. Our analysis of lidar data also revealed that the earlier Olmec centre of San Lorenzo had a central rectangular space, which possibly provided the spatial template for later sites. This format was probably formalized and spread after the decline of San Lorenzo through intensive interaction across various regions. These observations highlight the legacy of San Lorenzo and the critical role of inter-regional interaction.
AB - City plans symbolizing cosmologies have long been recognized as a defining element of Mesoamerican civilizations. The origins of formal spatial configurations are thus the key to understanding early civilizations in the region. Assessment of this issue, however, has been hindered by the lack of systematic studies of site plans over broad areas. Here, we report the identification of 478 formal rectangular and square complexes, probably dating from 1,050 to 400 bc, through a lidar (laser imaging, detection and ranging) survey across the Olmec region and the western Maya lowlands. Our analysis of lidar data also revealed that the earlier Olmec centre of San Lorenzo had a central rectangular space, which possibly provided the spatial template for later sites. This format was probably formalized and spread after the decline of San Lorenzo through intensive interaction across various regions. These observations highlight the legacy of San Lorenzo and the critical role of inter-regional interaction.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117924478&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85117924478&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41562-021-01218-1
DO - 10.1038/s41562-021-01218-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 34697423
SN - 2397-3374
VL - 5
SP - 1487
EP - 1501
JO - Nature Human Behaviour
JF - Nature Human Behaviour
IS - 11
ER -