Resumen de Spatial analyses and Maya cultural landscape
The objective of this paper is to apply geographical information systems (GIS) in the analysis and interpretation of a large corpus of archaeological field data pertaining to the Maya culture and collected in central parts of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Since the area has so far been practically unexplored, the expected final results should represent a significant contribution to the understanding of the Maya culture in central lowlands of the Yucatan peninsula. In this study we have used basic and advanced processing methods to determine some locational properties of Maya sites. This was the first step towards a model that could predict possible locations of unknown sites and thus simplify field surveys. The paper is focused to two of (partially independent) objectives. First, we have tried to observe characteristics of archaeological sites with respect to relief. Next, visibility studies have been performed and intervisibility between centres has been determined. The results of the study show that the sites frequently occur in prominent areas, being characterized with light slopes, higher curvature and roughness of the terrain and higher relative heights. Viewsheds from all of the sites, with different offsets of heights for observation and observed (target) points, helped us to understand the terrain characteristics, possible visual communications between different centres, reasons for the chosen centres locations, etc. We have proven that positions of the centres chosen by the Maya lie significantly in the areas that are more visible than the average (random) study area. Keywords: GIS, spatial analysis, cultural landscape, Maya Lowlands
