Archaeologists have turned to lasers to reveal hitherto unseen ancient civilizations in recent years. LiDAR, short for light detection and ranging, is a laser technique that uses aircraft to blast thousands of laser pulses from the sky at the ground below, piercing through the thick, deep forest canopy.
The technology allows researchers to create three-dimensional maps beneath the plants, exposing human-made structures. Here are five previously undiscovered civilizations uncovered using cutting-edge LiDAR technology, ranging from a Mayan city to intricate communities deep in the Brazilian Amazon, from Insider.
1. 2,000-Year-Old Mayan Civilization
A paper published in Ancient Mesoamerica discusses a 2,000-year-old Mayan civilization recently found in northern Guatemala using LiDAR.
Archaeologists discovered approximately 1,000 archaeological sites in the area, which consisted of more than 417 cities, towns, and villages distributed across 650 square miles based on topographical maps of the area. The town included hundreds of ball courts and 110 kilometers of navigable causeways, allowing ancient Mayans to move.
2. 478 Mesoamerican Sites
Researchers discovered 478 Mesoamerican sites believed to be between 2,000 and 3,000 years old in a report released in October 2021. The sites are located in the Mexican states of Tabasco and Veracruz, where the Olmec and Maya civilizations flourished, aiding archaeologists in connecting the two civilizations.
Anthropologist Takeshi Inomate from the University of Arizona explained that finding the hidden structures on the site was unimaginable. But LiDAR laser technology helped a lot in transforming archaeology.
3. 61,000 Hidden Structures in Guatemala
In Guatemala, LiDAR laser technology discovered ancient settlements with 61,480 long-forgotten roadways, home foundations, military fortifications, and raised causeways. The 2018 study revealed that researchers used LiDAR to map Petén, Guatemala, the former home of the Mayans.
The ancient structures were from the Mayan Late Classic Period, between 650 and 800 CE. Anthropologist Francisco Estrada-Belli from Tulane University said that terraces and irrigation channels, reservoirs, fortifications, and causeways reveal a stunning image of land modification from the Mayans.
4. 81 Earthworks in the Amazon Rainforest
Using LiDAR, archaeologists discovered evidence of 24 sites with 81 earthworks in Brazil's Mato Grasso area, including interconnecting highways and fortified settlements constructed atop mounds.
They estimate the structures might have sustained a complex society with a population of up to one million people between 1250 and 1500, as previously reported by Insider.
Some geoglyphs or places etched into the Earth measured up to 1,300 feet across. Jonas Gregorio de Souza said in 2018 that there might be hundreds more locations buried in the bush that shows a continuous line of villages.
5. Ancient Amazonian Urban Network
LiDAR uncovered the buried ruins of 26 Indigenous village sites, nine of which were new findings, that thrived in the Amazon jungle more than 600 years ago in what is now Bolivia.
The villages belonged to the Casarabe civilization, which lived around 1,700 square miles between 500 and 1,400 CE. They also discovered stepping platforms and 72-foot-tall conical pyramids.
Researchers stated in the journal Nature that their findings lay to rest claims that pre-Hispanic western Amazonia was sparsely inhabited.
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