This expedition proposal aims to REcover the impact and knowledge of the Maya Sites located south of Lake Yaxhá in the Petén area of Guatemala through a 5-week expedition in June 2023, done by a team formed of current postgraduate members of the University of Oxford, and researchers from local Guatemalan universities.
We will target often overlooked medium and small-scale Maya sites using a multidisciplinary approach that combines archaeological study, aerial drone data collection techniques, and the anthropological impact and experiences of the local people. This is motivated by the increasing accessibility of LiDAR surveys, the unequal study and promotion of large-scale sites over smaller ones, and the post-pandemic struggle of maintaining these archaeological sites in good condition with a single tourism purpose.
Our aims are twofold:
- The archaeological goal is to find a cost-effective tool to expand the extent of remote sensing techniques in archaeology, in combination with AI, to understand the large-scale Maya landscape as a whole and not as multiple isolated nuclei.
- From an anthropological angle, we strive towards better understanding the role of these “frozen in time” constructions over the local people, in addition to the impact of international researchers’ activities on these communities, reflexively observing our effect as a research team and comprehending what legacies it builds upon.
Our proposal rejects the term DIScover as we acknowledge the presence of different peoples living in the surroundings of the sites prior to the arrival of the western researchers. We, therefore, seek to have a positive impact on local communities, culture, and economic development by creating visual outcomes, such as digital models and a documentary, to promote the history and culture of both the Maya and the contemporary people living in the area.
