Mayan discovery: How laser scan revealed network of hidden cities in ‘major breakthrough’

The Mayans were a civilisation known for their architecture, mathematics and astronomical beliefs, who date back to as far as 2000BC, with many of their impressive constructions still standing in the jungles of southeast Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and western parts of Honduras.  However, thanks to new technology known as LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) researchers were able to digitally remove the overgrown jungle of the now-unpopulated Guatemala landscape, revealing the ruins of a sprawling pre-Columbian civilisation that was far more complex. The landscape, near already-known Maya cities, is thought to have been home to millions more people than research had previously suggested.

Researchers mapped over 810 square miles in northern Peten by flying a plane armed with millions of lasers over the region, exposing 60,000 structures including houses, fortifications and causeways on a 3D map.

Stephen Houston, Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology at Brown University, said in 2018: “I think this is one of the greatest advances in over 150 years of Maya archaeology.

“I know it sounds hyperbolic but when I saw the imagery, it did bring tears to my eyes.”

As well as previously unknown structures, the images showed raised highways that linked together urban centres and quarries. 

The city was mapped up below the jungle

The city was mapped up below the jungle (Image: GETTY/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC/WILD BLUE MEDIA)

The team scanned 810 square miles

The team scanned 810 square miles (Image: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC)

When I saw the imagery, it did bring tears to my eyes

Stephen Houston

They also found advanced irrigation and terracing systems that supported agriculture in for a civilisation that was one of the most advanced to arise in Mesoamerica. 

Marcello Canuto, one of the project’s top investigators, said: “Now it is no longer necessary to cut through the jungle to see what’s under it.

“The fortified structures and large causeways reveal modifications to the natural landscape made by the Maya on a previously unimaginable scale.”

He added that the findings are a “revolution”.

Described as “magic” by some archaeologists, LiDAR unveils archaeological finds almost invisible to the naked eye, especially in the tropics.

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The scan revealed an ancient society fit for millions

The scan revealed an ancient society fit for millions (Image: NATIONAL GEOPGRAPHIC/WILD BLUE MEDIA)

Ithaca College archaeologist Thomas Garrison told the BBC: “Everything is turned on its head.”

He believes the scale and population density has been “grossly underestimated and could, in fact, be three or four times greater than previously thought”.

Archaeologists excavating a Maya site called El Zotz in northern Guatemala painstakingly mapped the landscape for years. 

However, the LiDAR survey revealed miles of fortification wall that the team had never noticed before.

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More than 60,,000 previously unknown structures were found

More than 60,,000 previously unknown structures were found (Image: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC/WILD BLUE MEDIA)

How LiDAR imaging works

How LiDAR imaging works (Image: YOUTUBE)

Mr Garrison added: “Maybe, eventually, we would have gotten to this hilltop where this fortress is, but I was within about 150 feet of it in 2010 and didn’t see anything.

“The tricky thing about LiDAR is that it gives us an image of 3,000 years of Mayan civilisation in the area, compressed.

“It’s a great problem to have though because it gives us new challenges as we learn more about the Maya.”

Francisco Estrada-Belli, a Tulane University archaeologist, told National Geographic that the area may have been home to up to 15 million people.

He added: “LiDAR is revolutionising archaeology the way the Hubble Space Telescope revolutionised astronomy.

“We’ll need 100 years to go through all [the data] and really understand what we’re seeing.

“With this new data, it’s no longer unreasonable to think that there were 10 to 15 million people there, including many living in low-lying, swampy areas that many of us had thought uninhabitable.”

source: express.co.uk