The Angamuco Urban Landscape: LiDAR, survey, and excavation at a Purépecha City, Michoacán, Mexico

Angamuco is a newly documented Purépecha (Tarascan) urban center within the Imperial heartland of the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Michoacán, Mexico. Over the last decade we have conducted full coverage survey, urban mapping, LiDAR scanning and analysis, and excavation to better understand the growth and abandonment of Angamuco during the centuries prior to European contact. This work shows that (1) large urban centers with complex spatial organization and social stratification were present centuries prior to the formation of the Purépecha Empire, (2) the settlement incorporate gardens and other landscape features within and around the settlement demonstrating a high degree of human environmental modification, (3) current models for the evolution of social complexity in the region cannot account for the presence of Angamuco.