One of the most important and difficult things for archaeologists is to determine the population of ancient sites or regions. Accurate population data is critical to an understanding of the culture and the forces driving it. New technology and important advances in archaeology are making this difficult job more accurate all the time.
In this volume covering much of the forested lowlands and arid highlands of the Maya region and central Mexico, 25 distinguished scholars offer 13 essays on the population of the region. They offer a view of ancient landscapes that has only become possible
in recent years. New field techniques tell part of the story, but even more important are new technologies. The most important is LiDAR (light detection and ranging) which uses laser pulses to create a three dimensional map on the ground. LiDAR can see through thick forest and is thus of particular importance in the heavily wooded Maya lowlands. The maps are uncannily accurate—with resolution of 1 centimeter or less. Armed with this new data, archaeologists can count houses, palaces, and other structures, leading to much-improved population estimates. This new data has resolved the old debate as to whether Mesoamericans had true cities (they did) and the extent of their urbanization. Very accurate maps of sites and regions give archaeologists accurate counts of= structures. Improved field techniques have allowed archaeologists to determine family size, that is how many people occupied a house, compound, or palace.
This volume presents the latest information of these and other techniques archaeologists are using to crack the population dilemma. It is a critical addition to Mesoamerican literature that helps us to better understand one of the most perplexing problems of Mesoamerican archaeology. —Mark Michel, TAC President Emeritus
