Graduate student discovers ancient Mayan city in Mexican jungle

Jack Aylmer

AN ANCIENT MAYAN CITY BURIED CENTURIES AGO IN THE JUNGLES OF MEXICO WAS  JUST DISCOVERED.

IT WASN’T PART OF A LONG, ARCHAEOLOGICAL SEARCH, RATHER IT WAS STUMBLED UPON BY A GRAD STUDENT ON HIS COMPUTER LOOKING AT OLD LAND SURVEY DATA.

LUKE AULD-THOMAS, A PH.D. STUDENT AT TULANE UNIVERSITY, DISCOVERED THE ANCIENT CITY WHILE LOOKING AT PUBLICLY AVAILABLE 10 YEAR OLD LASER MAPPING OF THE AREA..

LIDAR (LEE-DAR), A HIGH-TECH TOOL THAT USES LASER PULSES TO PIERCE THROUGH FOREST CANOPY AND REVEAL WHAT’S BELOW UNCOVERED A HUGE SETTLEMENT DUBBED “VALERIANA,” HIDDEN FOR CENTURIES IN THE STATE OF CAMPECHE.

THE DISCOVERY IS BIG – AN AREA ONE-AND-A-HALF TIMES THE SIZE OF WASHINGTON, D.C., WITH MORE THAN 6,600 STRUCTURES, INCLUDING PYRAMIDS SIMILAR TO THE ONES AT CHICHÉN ITZÁ AND TIKAL (TEE-KUL).

ARCHAEOLOGISTS SAY LIDAR (LEE-DAR) TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN REVOLUTIONARY FOR THEIR FIELD. IT LETS THEM PEER THROUGH THE TREES WITHOUT CUTTING A SINGLE ONE, CALLING IT “DIGITAL DEFORESTATION.”

THE RESEARCHERS THINK THIS CITY, HOME TO AS MANY AS 50-THOUSAND PEOPLE AT ITS PEAK, COLLAPSED BETWEEN 8-HUNDRED AND 1-THOUSAND A-D..

FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS, I’M LAUREN TAYLOR

FOR MORE FOR OUR STORIES DOWNLOAD THE STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS APP.