The Middle American Research Institute (M.A.R.I.) in Tulane University’s School of Liberal Arts has received a $1.5 million grant from the Hitz Foundation to conduct innovative archaeological research on the Maya civilization of Mexico and Central America.

The grant, which builds on a nearly $1 million 2019 gift from the Hitz Foundation, increases the ability of M.A.R.I.’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Lab to use lidar technology that can bypass thick forest canopy and map features on the earth’s surface. Lidar technology reveals changes in topography, enabling archaeologists to identify human-made features on the ground such as walls, roads and buildings.

The grant will enhance M.A.R.I.’s computing capabilities and spur the acquisition of new remote sensing data. In the past, the institute had to obtain lidar data from a network of external researchers working independently from one another. Now its GIS Lab will be able to conduct this work in-house.

“This generous grant from the Hitz Foundation empowers Tulane to further its mission as a world leading research university that seeks to understand, in the greatest depth and complexity possible, both the present and the past and to collaborate with international partners on future discoveries,” Tulane President Michael A. Fitts said.