THE LANDSCAPE TRANSFORMATION DURING THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE MAYA CITY OF PALENQUE, MEXICO (Invited Presentation)

The Maya city of Palenque developed during the Classic period of the Mesoamerican chronology (250 to 900 AC). The city has a great influence over the Usumacinta River Basin inhabitants and resources. The site's construction occurred on the karstic landscape of Sierra de Chiapas, south Mexico. This implied the landscape transformation through the deviation of rivers, leveling of the territory, and extraction of construction materials, among other activities. To understand the environmental impact caused during the site construction, we conducted a geoarchaeological study using the on-site and out-site approach. First, we used LANDSAT and LIDAR images with different visualization techniques to develop a geomorphological map. We collected samples from different soil units around the site during the out-site survey. For the on-site research, we selected a building inside Group IV of the ceremonial-civic core of Palenque. Results show that great landscape transformation was performed while building the main structures. The deviation of the rivers through the construction of aqueducts modified the natural occurrence of travertines, which were a common material during the city's development. The main soils found in the site are derived from Cretaceous sandstones, the same type found under the buildings. These sandy soils represented the main soil cover over which the city was developed. The construction materials contained ceramic fragments, charcoal, mollusks, limestone fragments, travertine, soils, Fe oxides, and bones, used in different amounts in each constructive period. With this information, we proposed a model of landscape transformation and the availability of construction materials that can be related to the political and economic conditions of the Palenque society.