Dr Antoine Dorison, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow

What will your research seek to do?

I'm interested in ancient agricultural landscapes in Mexico and their evolution over time. To study them, I work in particular with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology, which enables digital models of the earth's surface to be created from airborne laser scans.

Over the last ten years, Mexico has seen an increase in LiDAR coverage, revealing landscapes that have been intensely modified by human activity. Far beyond the great pyramids and palaces, the vast majority of landscapes revealed belong to the agricultural sphere. These include terraces, plot systems and surface water management systems.

Yet, the archaeology of agricultural landscapes remains secondary for many scholars. This is despite the fact that agricultural production is a key factor in archaeologist explanations of the establishment and decline of pre-Hispanic sites and even state systems. 

One methodological stumbling block is the difficulty of dating agrarian developments. This can be difficult because:

• their stratigraphies are generally disturbed by farming activities (ancient and recent)
• artifacts (e.g. ceramics) and ecofacts (e.g. charcoal) commonly used to date archaeological contexts are rare in these ancient fields

Projects aims

I have set up a project with my colleagues Prof Sam Turner from Newcastle University and Dr Tim Kinnaird from St Andrews. The project aims to develop a new methodology to overcome these issues. We want to better understand the anthropized landscapes of central Mexico by:

• mapping them in detail, using remote sensing (LiDAR, satellite imagery) and verifying the detected elements in the field
• attempting to date a sample of agrarian features using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL)

This technology makes it possible to estimate the time that a sediment has passed underground. It is not well developed in this part of Mexico, as the volcanic environment is, in theory, not very conducive to its use.

Indeed, volcanic environments present few dateable minerals (quartz in particular) and little natural radioactivity (which generates luminescence). However, recent advances in OSL dating and a pilot study I conducted in 2022 hold out the promise of methodological developments. If conclusive, these will be extremely useful for research into the evolution of Mexican landscapes.

One of the drivers of my research is also the potential for breaking down the barriers between periods offered by the study of landscapes, which I seek to apprehend over the long term as heritages that are still dynamically inscribed in the daily lives of Mexicans.  

These systems, which probably originated in pre-Hispanic times, seem to have been reused and to have evolved over time. This is a good discovery for rethinking the simplistic explanations of the alarming erosion of slopes in certain parts of Mexico. These simplistic explanations sometimes consider:

• pre-Hispanic groups as bad farmers who caused the erosion
• the contact period as a time when ancient ethnoecological knowledge was completely swept away

Neither version is satisfactory.

What have you got planned for the year ahead? 

At the moment, I'm trying to systematize the interpretation of the data we have so far. To this end, I am continuing to map the landscapes concerned. Ultimately, I would like to produce maps for:

• my archaeology peers
• scientific publications
• the wider public
• decision-makers

I am also preparing the next fieldwork for November 2025 in two other areas with new partners, North American and Mexican colleagues. I'll also be returning to St Andrews to continue studying the samples.

Now that you have started your Fellowship, what advice would you give to someone starting something similar? 

Get started quickly!

Not because there isn't enough time to complete the project (although, in a way, there is!), but rather because it's very stimulating and generates a wealth of ideas that help us move forward in leaps and bounds (at least, that's how I feel).

Getting started quickly also means starting to talk quickly and concretely with colleagues here in Newcastle.

My case is perhaps particular because I work on pre-Hispanic societies, which are not the most studied in Newcastle and the UK in general. However, all my exchanges so far with specialists from disciplines more or less distant from Americanist archaeology have been very fruitful because they bring an outside viewpoint.