Fig 1.
The location of the Valle de la Fortaleza within Central America (inset) and the distribution of prehistoric settlements within the valley superimposed over the Mosquitia region.
Settlement extent is shown in red along with an identifier. Settlement numbers were assigned based on a 250 m. grid (fishnet) laid across the area of LiDAR coverage. Solid red line denotes the Valley watershed. All data shown superimposed over the sum of a 16 angle composite hillshade draped on a color shaded NASA SRTM DSM with a resolution of 1 m/pixel.
Fig 2.
Map of the greater Mosquitia Biosphere showing the LiDAR area of interest and GPS reference stations.
Fig 3.
Histogram of forest canopy returns from a 250 m x 250 m sample.
The histogram shows the relative occurrence of canopy returns with respect to their height above the modeled ground (DTM). It also shows for each height-above-ground bin the relative distribution of first, second, third, and last returns of each laser pulse.
Table 1.
Simplified architectural and landscape typology used in this study.
In the ESRI Geodatabase each category corresponds to a shapefile which then forms the basis for a data dictionary used in the handheld Trimble GPS units.
Fig 4.
Examples of square plaza configurations (Type A).
A) Plaza group from site 955 Jaguar; B) Site 1202. 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.
Fig 5.
Example of a rectangular plaza configuration (Type B), taken from site 955 Jaguar.
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.
Fig 6.
Key for Figs 7 and 12–14 showing the locations of the insets for the City of the Jaguar (site 955).
Fig 7.
Example of a floodplain mound complex and associated upland reservoir (C) at site 955 (la Ciudad del Jaguar) within the Valle de la Fortaleza (T1).
Location of section at the site and a legend are shown in Fig 9. 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.
Fig 8.
Water Control features from the Forteleza Valley.
A) Possible canals associated with site 955; B) Reservoir from site 955. 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.
Table 2.
Results of the nearest neighbor analysis.
For all tests n = 19.
Fig 9.
Ripley’s K/ Multi-distance spatial cluster analysis (MDSCA) for the 19 Prehistoric settlements identified in the Valle de Forteleza sample.
The black ‘expected’ line shows the result of a simulated random distribution while the upper and lower dotted lines represent a 95% confidence interval. The red line shows the observed distribution for the Forteleza sample which shows increasing dispersion over distances of 1200 m.
Fig 10.
Buffers at 200, 400, and 800 m placed around the Fortelaza sites.
Underlay is the sum of hillshades representing 16 cardinal points placed over a transparent DSM.
Fig 11.
Histogram of the near distance from a high order stream segment to the center of a Forteleza settlement.
Calculated using the near function in ESRI ARCGIS couple with a stream order analysis.
Fig 12.
Buffers place around the Fortelaza settlements overlain on a visualization of the high order stream segments for the Valley.
Blue line denotes the edge of the watershed.
Fig 13.
Core site areas in ha for the 19 settlements identified in the Valle de la Fortaleza.
A) line plot of all sites showing size in ha; B) Histogram of site sizes.
Fig 14.
The central portion of site 898.
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.
Fig 15.
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.
Fig 16.
Eastern most section (A) of site 955 (la Ciudad del Jaguar) within the Valle de la Fortaleza (T1).
Location of section at the site and a legend are shown in Fig 6. 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.
Fig 17.
Eastern ‘cache’ location (B) at site 955 (la Ciudad del Jaguar) within the Valle de la Fortaleza (T1).
Location of section at the site and a legend are shown in Fig 6. 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.
Fig 18.
Central occupation area (D) at site 955 (la Ciudad del Jaguar) within the Valle de la Fortaleza (T1).
Location of section at the site and a legend are shown in Fig 9. 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.
Fig 19.
Eastern most edge of the settlement (E) at site 955 (la Ciudad del Jaguar) within the Valle de la Fortaleza (T1).
Location of section at the site and a legend are shown in Fig 9. 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.
Fig 20.
Artist’s reconstruction of one portion of site 955, la Ciudad del Jaguar, based on field-checked LiDAR data.
View is looking roughly west and depicting site sections shown in Figs 10 and 11. Courtesy of Gregory A. Harlin/National Geographic Creative.
Fig 21.
Plot of Rank-size analysis of valley sites with the city included (black) showing a primo-convex pattern, and the city excluded (gray), showing a double or two tailed pattern.