Laser surveys have revealed a massive centuries-old Maya city in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.
The city contains up to 6,674 structures, including pyramids like the ones at Chichén Itzá and Tikal, according to a study published Tuesday (Oct. 29) in the journal Antiquity. The researchers used previously created lidar (light detection and ranging) maps, which are created by shooting laser pulses at the ground, to reveal the potentially 1,500-year-old site.
With the rise of lidar technology over the past few decades, the discovery of ancient settlements has risen dramatically. However, this technology is expensive and often not accessible to early-career scientists like Luke Auld-Thomas, an archaeologist at Northern Arizona University and first author of the study. But the researchers had an idea of how to get around this barrier.
“Scientists in ecology, forestry and civil engineering have been using lidar surveys to study some of…
