February 2, 2018

Astounding Discovery of Vast Maya Sites and Structures In Guatemala

Archaeologists using lidar technology have found houses, palaces, elevated highways, and defensive fortifications under the Guatemalan jungle. Millions more lived in this area than previously believed.
Speaking to the BBC, top archaeologists had this to say about the discovery;
“I think this is one of the greatest advances in over 150 years of Maya archaeology,” said Stephen Houston, Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology at Brown University.
“Everything is turned on its head,” Ithaca College archaeologist Thomas Garrison told the BBC.
“He believes the scale and population density has been "grossly underestimated and could in fact be three or four times greater than previously thought”.
"The archaeologists were struck by the "incredible defensive features”, which included walls, fortresses and moats.“
"They showed that the Maya invested more resources into defending themselves than previously thought, Mr Garrison said.”
60,000 new structures have been identified.
Th lidar survey also showed longer and more numerous raised highways than archaeologists knew about, connecting many more sites, showing a heavy trade pattern.
And a previously unknown seven story pyramid was uncovered by the survey.
The site of Tikal was found to be three to four times larger than previously thought.
Archaeologists are not finished with their lidar survey. The new discoveries will take many decades to research.

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