Researchers Discover Large, Ancient Mayan City
2024-11-08
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1Researchers in Mexico have discovered a large, lost Mayan city.
2The major urban settlement, named Valeriana, is hidden deep in the southern forest of Campeche.
3The discovery adds to existing knowledge about ancient Mayan settlements.
4Valeriana was discovered by chance thanks to Lidar, or Light Detection and Ranging.
5It is a technology that uses lasers to map the Earth's surface.
6The data used for the study came from around 122 square kilometers of high-quality Lidar data collected in 2013.
7The work, led by the Nature Conservancy in Mexico, was part of a forest monitoring project called Alianza.
8The project aimed to reduce emissions from tree cutting, or deforestation, and land damage.
9Researchers wrote in the study, published by Cambridge University Press, that "The discovery of Valeriana highlights the fact that there are still major gaps in our knowledge of the existence or absence of large sites within as-yet unmapped areas of the Maya Lowlands."
10Lidar technology revealed a major settlement, filled with buildings and agricultural infrastructure.
11The classical-era Maya civilization dates back to around 1800 to 1100 years ago.
12At the time, the Maya civilization grew its control over present-day southern Mexico and what are now Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
13In the study, the researchers identified a total of 6,764 structures, suggesting a populous ancient city.
14The researchers will carry out further detailed study of the dataset - both remotely and in the field.
15The discovery serves as a way to better understand ancient Mayan urbanization and settlements.
16I'm John Russell.
1Researchers in Mexico have discovered a large, lost Mayan city. 2The major urban settlement, named Valeriana, is hidden deep in the southern forest of Campeche. 3The discovery adds to existing knowledge about ancient Mayan settlements. 4Valeriana was discovered by chance thanks to Lidar, or Light Detection and Ranging. It is a technology that uses lasers to map the Earth's surface. 5The data used for the study came from around 122 square kilometers of high-quality Lidar data collected in 2013. 6The work, led by the Nature Conservancy in Mexico, was part of a forest monitoring project called Alianza. The project aimed to reduce emissions from tree cutting, or deforestation, and land damage. 7Researchers wrote in the study, published by Cambridge University Press, that "The discovery of Valeriana highlights the fact that there are still major gaps in our knowledge of the existence or absence of large sites within as-yet unmapped areas of the Maya Lowlands." 8Lidar technology revealed a major settlement, filled with buildings and agricultural infrastructure. 9The classical-era Maya civilization dates back to around 1800 to 1100 years ago. At the time, the Maya civilization grew its control over present-day southern Mexico and what are now Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. 10In the study, the researchers identified a total of 6,764 structures, suggesting a populous ancient city. 11The researchers will carry out further detailed study of the dataset - both remotely and in the field. The discovery serves as a way to better understand ancient Mayan urbanization and settlements. 12I'm John Russell. 13Raul Cortes reported on this story for Reuters. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English. 14_______________________________________________ 15Words in This Story 16urban - adj. of, relating to, characteristic of, or constituting a city 17monitor -- v. to watch, keep track of, or check usually for a special purpose 18highlight - v. to constitute a significant or especially interesting part of; to center attention on 19infrastructure - n. the resources (such as buildings, roads, irrigation, or equipment) required for an activity