This week, a new paper was released in the journal Antiquity concerning the ancient Maya city of Tikal in northern Guatemala. LiDAR scanning technology has revealed the presence of a number of previously undiscovered ruins, dating back to the early first millennium AD, and as I’ll explain, this is one of the most interesting and exciting finds I’ve come across in a long time.
Today the buildings are buried in overgrowth, and even though the area of Tikal has been heavily explored for six decades, the ruins are still extremely hard to find on the ground.
Experts used LiDAR to map a set of hills found near the Tikal city centre and results have now proved that these are actually man-made mounds and that buildings were buried beneath them.
After reviewing the results, archaeologists have gone into the field and confirmed the existence of the buried structures, but they also discovered something very unusual and completely unique. It appears that the buildings had been modelled after the important citadel of Teotihuacan, the most populated and powerful city-state in Mesoamerica in the first millennium AD.
But why would there be a Teotihuacan outpost or settlement next to the Maya city of Tikal? Were they friends of enemies? Watch the video to learn more.
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