Archaeologists have uncovered an ancient Maya city concealed beneath thick jungle in southern Mexico using cutting-edge laser-sensing technology, revealing surprising details about past urbanization and dense populations in the region. Named Ocomtun, after a nearby lagoon, the lost city may have once thrived as a bustling metropolis on par with the famous pre-Hispanic hub of Calakmul on the Yucatán Peninsula.
From an article in Media House Press.
The new discovery, recently published in the journal Antiquity, challenges previous assumptions that many areas between known Maya sites were sparsely populated. The LiDAR technology, which uses thousands of laser pulses from aircraft to detect minute changes in terrain hidden by vegetation, revealed an area spanning nearly 47 square miles (122 square kilometers) with approximately 6,479 structures.
“Prior research showed that much of modern-day Campeche was transformed by its ancient inhabitants,” shared co-author Adriana Velázquez Morlet of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History. “Now, this study suggests that what was once thought of as an underexplored region was actually a highly urbanized landscape.”
Utilizing data from a 2013 LiDAR survey initially conducted to measure deforestation, researchers used software to review the data again. The study identified temple platforms, ceremonial ball courts, residential terraces, agricultural fields, and what appears to be a dam—all thought to have been built between AD 250 and 900, with potential settlement as early as AD 150. These findings underscore the extensive landscape modifications ancient Maya civilizations implemented, likely to support a large population.
New Stories About the Maya Civilization
Marcello Canuto, a Tulane University professor involved in the project, expressed the potential of this discovery for reconstructing Maya life in unprecedented detail. “This broader dataset allows us to tell better stories about the ancient Maya—going beyond the political and religious histories we already know,” he explained, “to understand more about population density, conflicts, governance, and trade practices.”
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