Using a new, sophisticated aerial laser detection system has recently revealed a vastly larger Mayan civilization that holds exciting promise for learning more about Mesoamerican cultures. Science and technology are forging new paths of discovery. Archaeology, anthropology and other disciplines that explore the past flow from one of the great boons of Western Civilization: the Scientific Method. Archaeologists engage in a never-ending process of gathering evidence, making observations, developing theories, connecting the dots with a prior knowledge base, and revising the theory accordingly. Then the process begins again.

I like to expose students to the Scientific Method in teaching history. Not everyone is enthusiastic about the past so bringing elements of science, math and computing into the history classroom engages students with affinities for other subjects. Establishing a connection between modern technology and ancient cultures also makes history more relatable for young people. Additionally, finding a way to make a subject relatable is one of the best ways to generate enthusiasm and learning. Finally, demonstrating the benefits of the Scientific Method in the humanities works well in developing a student’s thinking skills. They can see how logic and reason work in different scenarios which helps them figure out how to apply the same approaches in their own lives.

New technologies offer innovative methods to recover human history. I posted an article on scientists who adapted cutting edge muon detectors to identify a large void in the Great Pyramid of Giza. (NEWS: New Discovery of a Large Hidden Room in the Great Pyramid) Muons are subatomic particles that pass through solid matter and by tracking their path through the pyramid, Egyptologists may be on the brink of a major new find. Muon detection and analysis requires a great deal of technological ability and expensive tools that few possess. However, technology offers lay enthusiasts an opportunity to contribute as well. An amateur researcher, Angela Micol from North Carolina, identified two previously unknown potential pyramid ruins in Egypt searching Google Earth satellite images on her home computer (see article link: HERE).

Aerial photography of Mayan sites is of limited use due to the heavy foliage of the Guatemalan rainforests.

Satellite and other aerial observation techniques are improving all the time. Egypt is a barren landscape and formations are often visible to the naked eye. Exploring Central and South American sites is a different matter. Rainforests camouflage ruins making them difficult to detect from even a close proximity. To overcome the challenge of dense foliage, Mayan archaeologists turned to lidar. Directing laser pulses at the ground and measuring the wavelengths that bounce back, lidar offers highly accurate measurement of the topography under a deep canopy of vegetation. Employing lidar in Guatemala led to the discovery of 60,000 previously unknown Mayan structures hidden in the jungle ranging from causeways to houses, walls and even pyramids. Mayan specialists are still working out the implications but these new findings have already generated new explorations without having to destroy entire forests.

For background, Asiatic hunter gatherers traveled across the Bering Land Bridge created in the last Ice Age from Russia in circa 15,000 BC spreading into the Americas. The Olmec on the Gulf Coast of Mexico were the first known agricultural society to create division of labor, sophisticated religious beliefs, urban centers and a simple writing lasting from 1,200 BC to 400 BC. Today, Olmecs are best known for the human heads carved from boulders and rocks.

The Mayans appeared circa 1,800 BC either independently or out of Olmec culture expanding from western Mexico south into Guatemala. They developed as many as 40 cities over the course of almost 3,000 years. For unknown reasons, the great cities were abandoned in the 9th century AD. The Mayans still existed when the Spanish arrived in 1,500 but in mostly small agricultural villages confined to the Yucatan Peninsula.

By the time European explorers appeared, the Aztecs dominated central Mexico and the Incans had built a comparably complex society based in Peru. The Aztecs and Incans were urbanized and working in bronze. The Incans appear to have developed independently from cultures in the Andes Mountains. In North America, Native Americans still lived a more nomadic lifestyle. Agrarian practices had appeared but the Indians still lived in small transitory villages. Urbanization was in its earliest forms. In the Mid-Atlantic, Powhatan had created a loose confederation of Algonquin tribes in Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland. The Iroquois Confederacy consisting of six major tribes stretching from New York to the Great Lakes formed approximately 100 years before English colonists arrived. The Confederacy represented the most sophisticated civilized element north of Mexico

Structures lost in the rainforests are revealed in great detail by lidar, a process that mimics the radar abilities of bats though replacing sonic pulses with laser pulses.

Computer imaging creates new possibilities as archaeologists can superimpose lidar findings on the natural topography to reconstruct Mayan settlements from above and on the ground.

These new approaches have led to myriad discoveries including previously unknown structures, artifacts and important insight into Mayan culture including the reasons for the society-wide collapse in the 9th century AD. I think we are on the cusp of major advances in better understanding the development of civilization in the Americas. Greater knowledge creates the opportunity to make comparative studies of Neolithic/Bronze Age Middle Eastern and American societies. We will be in a better position to determine if the theory that evolution from hunting and gathering led to agrarian practices followed by specialization and urbanization was universal. I outlined this theory recently: Civilization as a Survival Tool.

Learning more about the Mayans and in turn the Incans, Aztecs and Olmec offers real insight into our history. We can compare at least five cultures across the globe (Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Chinese, Olmec and Andean) who developed agrarian societies independently and followed similar paths to becoming sophisticated civilizations. The conditions were not the same. Mesoamericans lacked access to the variety of easily domesticated animal species Mesopotamians and Egyptians enjoyed. They also thrived in rainforest conditions unlike the drier, river based Middle Eastern cultures. Interestingly, Olmec/Mayan/Aztec cultures and Andean/Incan cultures developed agrarian practices followed by specialization, highly developed religious hierarchies, urban centers, and metalworking like their Middle Eastern and Chinese counterparts. Only time will tell, but we can be assured, we will have a better base of knowledge to use the Scientific Method to continue the cycle of observation and theoretic refinement.

Here is the link to the article on use of lidar on Mayan sites. The article provides more detail and is worth a read

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/maya-laser-lidar-guatemala-pacunam/

Sources:

The photos and images above came from the attached article and qualify as public domain and/or fall under the fair use exception. Please contact me if you have questions or concerns.

Olmec head:

https//:cdn.theculturetrip.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/olmec_head_no-_1-1.jpg

Olmec map:

https://cdn.flipsnack.com/collections/uploads/fstm0d5sacjldbqc

Mesoamerican map:

www.ducksters.com/history/aztec_maya_inca_map_lg.gif

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