Identifying Ancient Settlement Patterns through LiDAR in the Mosquitia Region of Honduras

The Mosquitia ecosystem of Honduras occupies the fulcrum between the American continents and as such constitutes a critical region for understanding past patterns of socio-political development and interaction. Heavy vegetation, rugged topography, and remoteness have limited scientific investigation. This paper presents prehistoric patterns of settlement and landuse for a critical valley within the Mosquitia derived from airborne LiDAR scanning and field investigation. We show that (i) though today the valley is a wilderness it was densely inhabited in the past; (ii) that this population was organized into a three-tiered system composed of 19 settlements dominated by a city; and, (iii) that this occupation was embedded within a human engineered landscape. We also add to a growing body of literature that demonstrates the utility of LiDAR as means for rapid cultural assessments in undocumented regions for analysis and conservation. Our ultimate hope is for our work to promote protections to safeguard the unique and critically endangered Mosquitia ecosystem and other similar areas in need of preservation

Example of a floodplain mound complex and associated upland reservoir (C) at site 955 (<i>la Ciudad del Jaguar)</i> within the V<i>alle de la Fortaleza</i> (T1).

<p>Location of section at the site and a legend are shown in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0159890#pone.0159890.g009" target="_blank">Fig 9</a>. Digitized features are shown over a composite hillshade view taken from 16 different angles draped on a color shaded DSM with a resolution of 1 m/pixel. Contour interval is 25 cm. All visualizations created using high resolution aerial LiDAR.</p

Artist’s reconstruction of one portion of site 955, <i>la Ciudad del Jaguar</i>, based on field-checked LiDAR data.

<p>View is looking roughly west and depicting site sections shown in Figs <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0159890#pone.0159890.g010" target="_blank">10</a> and <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0159890#pone.0159890.g011" target="_blank">11</a>. Courtesy of Gregory A. Harlin/National Geographic Creative.</p

Eastern most section (A) of site 955 (<i>la Ciudad del Jaguar)</i> within the V<i>alle de la Fortaleza</i> (T1).

<p>Location of section at the site and a legend are shown in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0159890#pone.0159890.g006" target="_blank">Fig 6</a>. Digitized features are shown over a composite hillshade view taken from 16 different angles draped on a color shaded DSM with a resolution of 1 m/pixel. Contour interval is 25 cm. All visualizations created using high resolution aerial LiDAR.</p

Histogram of the near distance from a high order stream segment to the center of a Forteleza settlement.

<p>Calculated using the near function in ESRI ARCGIS couple with a stream order analysis.</p

Eastern ‘cache’ location (B) at site 955 (<i>la Ciudad del Jaguar)</i> within the V<i>alle de la Fortaleza</i> (T1).

<p>Location of section at the site and a legend are shown in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0159890#pone.0159890.g006" target="_blank">Fig 6</a>. Digitized features are shown over a composite hillshade view taken from 16 different angles draped on a color shaded DSM with a resolution of 1 m/pixel. Contour interval is 25 cm. All visualizations created using high resolution aerial LiDAR.</p

Central occupation area (D) at site 955 (<i>la Ciudad del Jaguar)</i> within the V<i>alle de la Fortaleza</i> (T1).

<p>Location of section at the site and a legend are shown in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0159890#pone.0159890.g009" target="_blank">Fig 9</a>. Digitized features are shown over a composite hillshade view taken from 16 different angles draped on a color shaded DSM with a resolution of 1 m/pixel. Contour interval is 25 cm. All visualizations created using high resolution aerial LiDAR.</p

Example of a rectangular plaza configuration (Type B), taken from site 955 Jaguar.

<p>Digitized features are shown over a composite hillshade view taken from 16 different angles draped on a color shaded DSM with a resolution of 1 m/pixel. Contour interval is 25 cm. All visualizations created using high resolution aerial LiDAR.</p

Results of the nearest neighbor analysis.

<p>For all tests n = 19.</p

The main portion of site 328.

<p>Digitized features are shown over a composite hillshade view taken from 16 different angles draped on a color shaded DSM with a resolution of 1 m/pixel. Contour interval is 25 cm. All visualizations created using high resolution aerial LiDAR.</p