Researchers at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln spent most of June 30 meters underground taking lidar scans of Temple 6 at Copan, a UNESCO World Heritage site in western Honduras. This was once a site of Mayan metropolis.
Heather Richard-Rissetto, Assistant professor of Anthropology and Richard Wood and Christine Wittich, Assistant Professors of Civil and Environmental Engineering took part in the preservation project.
According to UNL, the Rosalila temple dates back to 600 A.D. It is a three story, early classic period structure that has stucco panels and original paint. There were also numerous artifacts and contains engravings inside and out. This was the first time that lidar scans were used to scan an underground structure in a tropical climate.
“Rosalila is very unique, because it wasn’t destroyed when another building was built on top of it,” Richards-Rissetto said. “What the Maya did at Copán was they actually encased it very carefully in stucco to preserve it for the future. We don’t fully understand why this was done, and it’s something very unusual — we don’t typically see that in the Maya region.
“We know it was a sacred place, and that rituals took place there, but we are still trying to understand why this building was preserved.”
The data gathered was turned into 3D geometry that includes excavation tunnels, the construction that has taken place over many centuries and the damage to the structure.
Rosalila was discovered about 30 years ago and has been exposed to the weather, environment and hurricane flooding. That has caused erosion and damage.