A Maya predictive model

A study on the use of Geographic Information Systems in a multi-scale archaeological project

Thanks

I want to thank more particularly:

The modern Maya forest gardeners with whom I could work, and particularly Narciso Torres, for sharing their knowledge and their view of the world, and also for their daily commitment to the protection of environment and safeguarding of the Maya cultural heritage

Anabel Ford, archaeologist responsible for this project, for this interesting internship

Joëlle Nicolas, my academic coordinator

My buddy, Séverine Berné, for her help and her advice during the proof-reading of this dissertation

Gary Raines, creator of ArcSDM, for his advice on the use of the method of the Weights of Evidence, and his explanations about the tools

Jessica Everton et Chrissie Bausch, assistants of Anabel, for their advice in English and their good mood

Constance Christensen, teacher and user of the GIS

My family for its financial support

The École Supérieure of Géomètres et Topographes (ESGT) for allowing this training

One of the corn fields (milpa) of Narciso Torres, a modern Maya forest gardener, an example of diversity and safeguarding of
Maya traditional methods

This dissertation is dedicated to the Maya forest gardeners for their wonderful work, and to Jessica Everton, assistant of Dr. Anabel Ford that I had the opportunity to train in the use of ArcGIS and the basic notions of geomatics. I am grateful for her help in doing some repetitive tasks taking a lot of time, and always with a wide smile. Thank you Jessica, and good luck for your studies!