(NLĐO) - A series of pyramids, temples, houses... and even a magnificent city of the Maya were hidden right next to a densely populated residential area without anyone knowing.
According to Heritage Daily, a team of scientists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico, Tulane University, and the University of Houston (USA) discovered as many as 6,674 Mayan architectural structures in an unexplored area of Campeche, Mexico.
A portion of the surveyed area reveals hidden structures that are the ruins of an ancient Mayan city - Photo: Antiquity
"Ecologists and engineers have been conducting LiDAR surveys in some of these areas for unrelated studies," said lead author Luke Auld-Thomas from Tulane University.
Therefore, archaeologists are hypothesizing whether it might reveal hidden structures from centuries ago.
LiDAR is a remote sensing tool that uses lasers to measure the distance from a source to the ground. Differences in laser response time and wavelength can be used to compile 3D digital maps of landscapes.
Therefore, ruins where only the foundation remains or which are covered by dense forest canopy may be revealed in LiDAR imagery.
But the researchers could never have imagined that they would make such an unimaginable discovery.
It is a densely populated area containing 6,674 previously unknown Mayan structures, including pyramids similar to those at Chichén Itzá and Tikal.
Furthermore, the research revealed rural areas and small settlements. They even found a large city with numerous pyramids, situated on a hillside near an agricultural area.
Notably, the city is located very close to the modern highway that runs through Campeche.
The central area of this large city still retains traces of houses on elevated land, a football field, and an irrigation system.
" The ancient world has many examples of cities that were completely different from the cities we have today," concluded Dr. Auld-Thomas.
Unlike modern cities, ancient Mayan cities were often interspersed with vast agricultural areas.
Research on this remarkable discovery has just been published in the scientific journal Antiquity.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/lo-gien-gan-6700-bong-ma-maya-196241030101329489.htm
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