ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTION OF NORTHEASTERN HONDURAS WITH AIRBORNE MAPPING LIDAR

In the last five years airborne mapping LiDAR has become an extremely valuable tool for archeologists studying ancient human settlements. It has proven especially useful in regions covered by dense forests on which prospection with other remote sensing techniques is not possible. However, due to the high upfront cost required to perform a LIDAR survey its use has been limited to expanding the knowledge of function and extent of previously well studied archaeological sites. In this paper we present results from a purely exploratory LiDAR survey that was conducted over the Mosquitia region of Honduras. From the geodetic images produced the archaeologists identified the first-ever large scale settlements documented in the region, a region for which a comprehensive record of inhabitation prior the European contact is still lacking.