Lasers Reveal a Maya Civilization So Dense It Blew Experts Minds

[joshcryer]

17. They're intact, but mostly covered by debris.

In person they'd look like a hill or a mound or a pile of dead trees with plants growing on them. The LIDAR found them because it can see through the overgrowth.

Here's what one mound looks like:



I suspect the whole reason the project was started was because we already knew there were more unknown sites out there, people stumbled upon them in the past, all it takes is one archeologist to realize what is is. What's an easy way to just find lots of rock structures in a sprawling canopy that requires hours of bush wacking to get through? LIDAR. Now that they know where they are they can go to each of the sites and make paths for other people. Before you had to go "hey, I know of a mound at X location" and maybe show an unimpressive picture. Now they can take the LIDAR data and pitch to get the whole area revitalized.