New Technology Reveals Previously Lost Maya City in Mexico
A chance internet search led to the rediscovery of a lost Maya city buried under the dense jungle of Mexico’s Campeche state. PhD student Luke Auld-Thomas, using Lidar technology, uncovered Valeriana, a vast city that sheds new light on Maya civilization.
A Hidden City Unearthed by Lidar Technology
In a twist of fate that could only be described as remarkable, a casual internet search led to one of the most significant Maya discoveries in recent years. Luke Auld-Thomas, a PhD student at Tulane University, stumbled upon data that ultimately led to the rediscovery of Valeriana, a hidden Maya city lost for centuries beneath Mexico’s lush jungle canopy. Working with Professor Marcello Canuto, Auld-Thomas has since revealed this ancient civilization’s monumental structures, complex causeways, and sports arenas, with the findings shared widely in Antiquity, an academic journal. In an interview with BBC, the student explained how Lidar technology, which utilizes laser pulses to map under dense vegetation, enabled this breakthrough. “I was on page 16 of Google search and found a laser survey done by a Mexican organization for environmental monitoring,” he told BBC.
The discovery, unexpected yet profound, underscores the immense potential of modern technology to uncover lost worlds, especially in areas covered by thick vegetation like the Mexican jungle. The findings at Valeriana promise to reshape our understanding of the Maya, their societal structure, and the factors that may have led to their decline.
A Hidden City Unearthed by Lidar Technology
The discovery of Valeriana was made possible by the revolutionary Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) technology. This technique, which allows researchers to peer beneath the jungle canopy, was instrumental in this groundbreaking discovery. Using a plane equipped with laser technology, Lidar sends out rapid pulses that reflect off surfaces below, including vegetation and terrain features. The method is beneficial for detecting large, human-made structures concealed by nature. In the case of Valeriana, the Lidar data showed clear outlines of a massive city, complete with pyramids, residential areas, and public spaces.
“The Lidar survey was originally part of an environmental monitoring project,” Auld-Thomas explained to BBC. “But when processed with archaeological methods, we could see an enormous cityscape that others had overlooked.” The size of Valeriana, which spans approximately 16.6 square kilometers, took even seasoned archaeologists by surprise. Situated just 15 minutes from a major road near Xpujil, the site had been hidden in plain sight for centuries. According to Auld-Thomas, Valeriana likely housed between 30,000 and 50,000 people at its peak, surpassing the region’s population today.
Researchers have found that Valeriana shares similarities with Calakmul, another prominent Maya site about 100 kilometers away. “Valeriana has the hallmarks of a capital city,” Professor Canuto told BBC. “Its density of buildings rivals even Calakmul considered one of the most significant Maya sites in ancient Latin America.”
A Glimpse into Maya Life and Culture
The details emerging from Valeriana paint a vivid picture of Maya life. The site has two main plazas with towering pyramids where the Maya would have worshipped, celebrated, and buried their dead. Archaeologists found remnants of a court where they believe the Maya played an ancient ball game, a hallmark of Mesoamerican culture. According to Auld-Thomas, artifacts, including jade masks, jewelry, and possibly valuable relics, lie buried under centuries of vegetation.
The cityscape includes amphitheaters and causeways connecting different districts, suggesting an organized and complex society with distinct urban planning. Evidence of a reservoir hints at the sophisticated ways the Maya managed resources to support a dense population. “These findings challenge Western ideas that tropical regions were where civilizations went to die,” Professor Canuto commented to BBC. Instead, the tropics fostered intricate societies with high cultural and technological sophistication levels.
Professor Elizabeth Graham from University College London, who was not directly involved in the study, told BBC that the findings at Valeriana align with other evidence that the Maya lived in complex urban environments rather than small, isolated villages. “The landscape was very much settled,” she said, “and not, as it may appear to the naked eye, wild or uninhabited.” The urban sprawl, evident from the many buildings identified in the survey, further suggests that the Maya managed extensive territories in what now seems like remote wilderness.
What Led to the Abandonment of Valeriana?
Valeriana’s story is not merely one of existence but of abandonment. Archaeologists believe climate change and environmental strain likely contributed to the city’s decline. The Maya civilization, at its height, had a sophisticated understanding of agriculture and water management. However, as the population grew, resources may have become strained, especially during prolonged droughts. This highlights the environmental challenges faced by the Maya and evokes a sense of empathy for their struggle.
The Maya collapse, which began around 800 AD, is attributed to environmental factors and social pressures. “The landscape was completely full of people at the onset of drought conditions,” Auld-Thomas explained to BBC. “It didn’t have much flexibility left, so the entire system may have unraveled as people moved farther away in search of resources.” Warfare and external threats, including the eventual arrival of Spanish conquistadors, further destabilized the region, dismantling these powerful city-states.
The findings at Valeriana contribute to the broader understanding of the Maya’s environmental vulnerabilities. The archaeological team noted signs of sophisticated irrigation and water management systems at the site, which were critical in sustaining the large population. However, even the best-engineered systems can falter under severe climate stress. “The discovery underscores how ancient societies also faced existential challenges due to climate,” Professor Canuto told BBC. It’s a reminder that even highly advanced civilizations can struggle to adapt to drastic environmental shifts.
The Future of Archaeology in Mesoamerica’s Dense Jungles
Lidar technology has ushered in a new archaeological era, particularly in Mesoamerica’s dense jungles. Traditionally, archaeological surveys were labor-intensive, requiring researchers to hike through rugged terrain and examine the ground foot by foot. With Lidar, however, vast areas can be mapped in a fraction of the time. Professor Canuto noted that Lidar has mapped 10 times the area surveyed over a century in just a decade through traditional methods. “Lidar has transformed our ability to uncover lost civilizations in dense jungles,” he said to BBC.
Yet, the sheer number of newly discovered sites presents a challenge. Archaeologists simply do not have the resources to excavate every site that Lidar reveals. “One of the downsides of discovering lots of new Maya cities in the era of Lidar is that there are more of them than we can ever hope to study,” Auld-Thomas told BBC. “I’ve got to go to Valeriana at some point. It’s so close to the road, how could you not? But I can’t say we will do a project there.”
The abundance of sites like Valeriana means many could remain unstudied for years, potentially even decades. Funding, preservation, and prioritization become critical issues in managing these findings. As interest in Mesoamerican archaeology grows, there is hope that more resources will be allocated to protect and investigate these invaluable remnants of the past. However, Professor Canuto warns, “We may have found more cities than we can save or fully understand.”
The discovery of Valeriana is more than an archaeological breakthrough—it’s a testament to the enduring legacy of Maya civilization and the power of modern technology to uncover it. As Lidar continues to reveal hidden structures beneath the jungle canopy, each finding adds complexity to our understanding of ancient Mesoamerica. The city of Valeriana, with its pyramids, plazas, and extensive causeways, reflects the achievements of a society that thrived in an environment previously dismissed as inhospitable.
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The work of Auld-Thomas, Canuto, and their colleagues offers a glimpse into a civilization that was as resilient as it was advanced, navigating the challenges of its environment with ingenuity. As Lidar opens the doors to even more discoveries, the story of the Maya is far from over. Their cities, hidden for centuries, continue to emerge from the shadows, inviting the world to reimagine a civilization that shaped Latin America long before European colonization.
