Page 17 - Amazonia

Amazonia | 17
Magazine Name 17

Laser technology known as LiDAR digitally removes the forest canopy to
reveal ancient ruins below, showing that Maya cities such as Tikal were
much larger than ground-based research had suggested.

IN WHAT’S BEING hailed as a University archaeologist and National
“major breakthrough” in Maya Geographic Explorer who participated
archaeology, researchers have in the project.
identified the ruins of more
than 60,000 houses, palaces, Among the most surprising findings was
elevated highways, and other the ubiquity of defensive walls, ramparts,
human-made features that terraces, and fortresses. “Warfare wasn’t
have been hidden for centu- only happening toward the end of the
ries under the jungles of north- civilization,” said Garrison. “It was large-
ern Guatemala. scale and systematic, and it endured
over many years.”
Using a revolutionary technology known
as LiDAR (short for “Light Detection The survey also revealed thousands of
And Ranging”), scholars digitally re- pits dug by modern-day looters. “Many
moved the tree canopy from aerial im- of these new sites are only new to us;
ages of the now-unpopulated landscape, they are not new to looters,” said Mari-
revealing the ruins of a sprawling pre- anne Hernandez, president of the PACU-
Columbian civilization that was far more NAM Foundation. (Read “Losing Maya
complex and interconnected than most Heritage to Looters.”)
Maya specialists had supposed. Environmental degradation is another
concern. Guatemala is losing more than
LiDAR revealed more than “The LiDAR images make it clear that
60,000 previously unknown this entire region was a settlement sys- 10 percent of its forests annually, and
Maya structures habitat loss has accelerated along its
tem whose scale and population density
had been grossly underestimated,” said border with Mexico as trespassers burn
Thomas Garrison, an Ithaca College ar- and clear land for agriculture and hu-
chaeologist and National Geographic man settlement.
Explorer who specializes in using digital “By identifying these sites and helping
technology for archaeological research. to understand who these ancient people
were, we hope to raise awareness of the
The ancient Maya never used the wheel
or beasts of burden, yet “this was a civi- value of protecting these places,”
lization that was literally moving moun-
tains,” said Marcello Canuto, a Tulane

“LiDAR is revolutionizing archaeology the way

the Hubble Space Telescope revolutionized as-
tronomy,” said Francisco Estrada-Belli, a Tulane Univer-
sity archaeologist and National Geographic Explorer.

“We’ll need 100 years to go through all [the data] and
really understand what we’re seeing.”