Origins and spread of formal ceremonial complexes in the Olmec and Maya regions revealed by airborne lidar

Takeshi Inomata (), Juan Carlos Fernandez-Diaz, Daniela Triadan, Miguel García Mollinedo, Flory Pinzón, Melina García Hernández, Atasta Flores, Ashley Sharpe, Timothy Beach, Gregory W. L. Hodgins, Juan Javier Durón Díaz, Antonio Guerra Luna, Luis Guerrero Chávez, María de Lourdes Hernández Jiménez and Manuel Moreno Díaz
Additional contact information
Takeshi Inomata: University of Arizona
Juan Carlos Fernandez-Diaz: University of Houston
Daniela Triadan: University of Arizona
Miguel García Mollinedo: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Flory Pinzón: Middle Usumacinta Archaeological Project
Melina García Hernández: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Atasta Flores: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Ashley Sharpe: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Timothy Beach: University of Texas
Gregory W. L. Hodgins: University of Arizona
Juan Javier Durón Díaz: Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI), Aguascalientes
Antonio Guerra Luna: Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI), Aguascalientes
Luis Guerrero Chávez: Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI), Aguascalientes
María de Lourdes Hernández Jiménez: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Veracruz
Manuel Moreno Díaz: Universidad para el Bienestar “Benito Juárez García”, Papantla de Olarte

Nature Human Behaviour, 2021, vol. 5, issue 11, 1487-1501

Abstract: Abstract 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.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01218-1 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nathum:v:5:y:2021:i:11:d:10.1038_s41562-021-01218-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/nathumbehav/

DOI: 10.1038/s41562-021-01218-1

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Human Behaviour is currently edited by Stavroula Kousta

More articles in Nature Human Behaviour from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().