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Mapping Archaeological Landscapes from Space pp 145–157Cite as

The Promise and Problem of Modeling Viewsheds in the Western Maya Lowlands

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Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Archaeology ((BRIEFSARCHHERIT,volume 5))

Abstract

This paper addresses the benefits and challenges of modeling viewsheds with ASTER, SRTM, and AirSAR DEMs as they relate to human scale behaviors through a case study that examines the cultural and political significance of viewsheds for Precolumbian Maya rulers. The goal of this chapter is twofold: to illustrate the dramatic differences in currently available datasets for calculating viewsheds and to reflect on the implications indigenous concepts of vision and intervisibility hold for the reconstruction of ancient vistas. We conclude that movement through and vistas across the landscape participated in the construction of political power and authority in Classic period (c. 250–900 C.E.) Maya kingdoms, but that to achieve a reasonable quantitative model of these vistas the parameters of datasets available to most archaeologists are insufficient. Coarse-resolution DEMs used to model viewsheds vastly overstate the perceptible area, yet may conversely obscure areas that would otherwise be visible to a human observer. Visibility analyses have become a part of archaeological standard practice without due consideration of the cultural context of perception, or the resolution of data approximating human scales.

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Acknowledgements

Field research in Guatemala conducted by the Sierra del Lacandón Regional Archaeology Project directed by Charles Golden, Andrew Scherer, Rosaura Vasquez, Ana Lucia Arroyave, and Luz Midilia Marroquin with permissions from the Insituto de Antropología e Historia of Guatemala (IDAEH). Financial support provided by the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (Grants #02020, 05027, and 07043), the National Geographic Society (Grants #7575-04, and 7636-04), the National Science Foundation (BCS-0406472, BCS-0715463, BCS-1115818), Dumbarton Oaks Research Library, H. John Heinz III Charitable Trust Grants for Latin American Archeology, the Kaplan Fund through the World Monuments Fund, Brown University, the Norman Fund and the Jane’s Fund at Brandeis University, Wagner College, and Baylor University.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA

    Charles Golden & Bryce Davenport

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  1. Charles Golden
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Golden, C., Davenport, B. (2013). The Promise and Problem of Modeling Viewsheds in the Western Maya Lowlands. In: Mapping Archaeological Landscapes from Space. SpringerBriefs in Archaeology(), vol 5. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6074-9_12

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