Archeologists in Mexico have discovered a huge, lost Mayan city, which they named Valeriana, hidden deep in the southern jungle of Campeche — a sprawling, urban settlement replete with architectural marvels and agricultural infrastructure.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
The discovery of what appears to have been a bustling urban landscape challenges the existing knowledge about the prevalence and density of ancient Mayan settlements.
A Lidar image shows what archeologists in Mexico say is a newly discovered lost Mayan city, which they named Valeriana. via REUTERS
Valeriana was discovered by chance thanks to Lidar, or Light Detection and Ranging, a technology that uses lasers to map and analyze archaeological landscapes.
The dataset used for the study came from approximately 47 square miles of high-quality airborne Lidar data
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