LiDAR and hidden Maya cities beneath the jungle
LiDAR y ciudades mayas ocultas bajo la selva
- Date
- 2018 · confidence high
- Place
- Maya Biosphere Reserve, Petén, Guatemala
- Credited to
- PACUNAM Foundation, Marcello Canuto, Francisco Estrada-Belli, Tom Garrison
- People
- 👤 Francisco Estrada-Belli👤 Marcello A Canuto👤 Tom Garrison1942–2016
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
A LiDAR survey of 2100 km² of the Petén revealed more than 60,000 structures, causeways, fortifications and raised fields, multiplying the estimated population of the Maya Lowlands several times over (up to 10-15 million). It changed the image of a scattered civilisation into an urbanised landscape.
Coordinates of the Tikal-El Zotz region, within the scanned area. The sites were partly known to local communities and chicle tappers; LiDAR revealed their scale.
What it led to
- Revision of Maya demography and agriculture
- LiDAR as a standard method in tropical archaeology (Angkor, the Amazon)
- Discovery of Aguada Fénix (2020) and Valeriana (2024)
Built on
- Decipherment of Maya script1952-1986
- First airborne LiDAR over a Maya city (Caracol)2009-2011
- LiDAR at Caracol (Chase, 2009) and Angkor (Evans, 2012)
- Decipherment of Maya script
Made possible
- Pre-Columbian settlements of La Mosquitia (LiDAR)2012-2015
- Large-scale remote archaeological survey
- Detection of Amazonian geoglyphs