[HN Gopher] Archaeologists Discover Lost Civilization in Guatemala ___________________________________________________________________ Archaeologists Discover Lost Civilization in Guatemala Author : 8bitsrule Score : 70 points Date : 2022-12-24 08:38 UTC (2 days ago) (HTM) web link (www.vice.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.vice.com) | Herodotus38 wrote: | Obligatory direct link to the paper: | | https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ancient-mesoamerica/... | blakesterz wrote: | There are some really cool images there. | gordondavidf wrote: | +1 to this. Strongly recommend a glance of the paper for the | images. | NelsonMinar wrote: | If this interests you, read Charles Mann's book 1491. | https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39020.1491 | ownlife wrote: | Cool TED Talk on LiDAR - "Let's scan the whole planet with LiDAR" | | https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_fisher_let_s_scan_the_whole_... | | YouTube link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6rIUxHZ9f4 | jonnycomputer wrote: | I really don't like the title of this submission. It is | unnecessarily sensationalist. And why link to Vice.com when there | is an open paper you can link to instead [1]? | | Here is the abstract of that paper: | | LiDAR coverage of a large contiguous area within the Mirador- | Calakmul Karst Basin (MCKB) of northern Guatemala has identified | a concentration of Preclassic Maya sites (ca. 1000 b.c.-a.d. 150) | connected by causeways, forming a web of implied social, | political, and economic interactions. This article is an | introduction to one of the largest, contiguous, regional LiDAR | studies published to date in the Maya Lowlands. More than 775 | ancient Maya settlements are identified within the MCKB, and 189 | more in the surrounding karstic ridge, which we condensed into | 417 ancient cities, towns, and villages of at least six | preliminary tiers based on surface area, volumetrics, and | architectural configurations. Many tiered sites date to the | Middle and Late Preclassic periods, as determined by | archaeological testing, and volumetrics of contemporaneously | constructed and/or occupied architecture with similar | morphological characteristics. Monumental architecture, | consistent architectural formats, specific site boundaries, water | management/collection facilities, and 177 km of elevated | Preclassic causeways suggest labor investments that defy | organizational capabilities of lesser polities and potentially | portray the strategies of governance in the Preclassic period. | Settlement distributions, architectural continuities, | chronological contemporaneity, and volumetric considerations of | sites provide evidence for early centralized administrative and | socio-economic strategies within a defined geographical region. | | [1] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ancient- | mesoamerica/... | Gabriel_Martin wrote: | I find LiDAR scanning through canopies super fascinating, but I | ended up going down a different rabbit hole while reading this. I | found the petition linked below after a cursory look into the | doctor of archeology mentioned within this article. I wonder how | this work fits into the aspirations mentioned within it. | | To me that petition brought up thoughts about how one might | manage projects like this with respect to local population, and | if/how efforts like this can aspire to maximize positive impacts | for local populations, relating to economic mobility. It also | brought up concerns about the worst parts of colonialism/neo- | colonialism, namely the looting and suppression of local | populations for the economic interests of foreign or state | related interests. I wonder how the archeologist in question | changed his methodologies (if at all) in response to the | petition. | | https://www.change.org/p/society-for-american-archaeology-re... | AlotOfReading wrote: | I wish Hansen would go into a quiet retirement somewhere. He's | notorious in the American archaeological community and frankly | something of a political bogeyman for many of the political | groups in Central America. He's been accused of everything from | being involved with human/drug trafficking groups, to rigging | elections, to pursuing shadowy mormon illuminati goals. He | hasn't done any favors to his reputation by associating with | unsavory individuals like Mel Gibson for funding and helping to | produce whatever the hell _Apocalypto_ was. The Mirador basin | his project is named after is widely considered to be | nonexistent and not an isolated geographic region in its own | right. | | I don't personally believe much of the stuff that's been said | about him (having never met the guy) because it's so | cartoonishly evil, but he's so politically radioactive that | anything he might try to do to benefit local communities is | _never_ going to get their support. | groffee wrote: | Lost to who? Ask the locals and they'll know all about it. | kshahkshah wrote: | Exactly, my buddy who used to regularly visit Guatemala has | paid drivers to bring him out to still-covered ruins and | explore for the day. The locals know about this stuff. | college_physics wrote: | Yes but they dont have a fancy lidar so why bother. | | Reminds me of this story (here simplified and from memory :-) | about ancient Maya script that was deciphered once the | brilliant code breakers had the inspiration to talk to the | locals (who were still talking the script) | ks2048 wrote: | There's long been a serious problem with looting at Maya sites. I | wonder how that affects what they publish with these surveys. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-12-26 23:00 UTC)