Huge Maya Civilization With Pyramids, Settlements, Ball Courts, Roads And More Discovered By LIDAR In Guatemala

Conny Waters - AncientPages.com - Archaeologists using radar have once again uncovered amazing ancient structures that cannot be easily detected from the ground. With the help of LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) scientists have detected a huge unknown 2,000-year-old Maya civilization in northern Guatemala.

Using LIDAR technology, scientists have discovered 964 ancient Maya settlements in Northern Guatemala. Credit: Hansen et al., Ancient Mesoamerica 2022 (CC-BY 4.0)

The study was conducted by a team of researchers from the United States working with a colleague from France and another from Guatemala.  In their paper published in the journal Ancient Mesoamerica, the science team describes how LIDAR detected 964 interconnected settlements linked by 177 kilometers (110 miles) of ancient roads. The ancient Maya settlements are scattered across an area of approximately 1,685 square kilometers (650 square miles).

A “settlement” is defined as a grouping or independent cluster of architecture, but when a group of settlements can be demonstrated as related via intrasite causeways or other architectural affiliations, such as shared logistics facilities like reservoirs or marshes, we suggest they can be defined as a “site” or “polity.” A single settlement can also be a site, depending on the quantity of public or residential architecture, as determined by the volumetrics of contemporary construction fill," the researchers write in their paper.

Researchers spotted the ancient Maya settlements while flying over Guatemala’s Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin (MCKB) as part of a mapping effort. Noticing ancient constructions lurking beneath them, the scientists utilized the LIDAR technology to uncover the jungle's secrets with the hope that some of the structures were of archaeological importance.

As many as 417 ancient cities, towns, and villages are hidden in the thick jungle, have been documented in this latest LIDAR study. All of these appear to have formed part of a single unified civilization. “The consistency of architectural forms and patterns, ceramics, sculptural art, architectural patterns, and unifying causeway constructions within a specified geographical territory suggests a centralized political, social, and economic organic solidarity among the occupants,” explain the authors.

Our study is "one of the largest, contiguous, regional LiDAR studies published to date in the Maya Lowlands, revealing more than 775 ancient Maya settlements within the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin (MCKB), and 189 more in the surrounding karstic ridge that comprise the geomorphological borders of the geographical area, together forming 964 archaeological settlements.

LiDAR image showing triadic structures in the civic center of El Mirador (Tigre pyramid is the largest in this section of the city). Credit: Hansen et al., Ancient Mesoamerica 2022 (CC-BY 4.0)

Scientists observed large platforms and pyramids within some of the identified settlements, suggesting these places served as centralized hubs for politics, work, and recreation. The research team spotted 30 ball courts scattered over the area, which shows playing a variety of sports native to the region was common among the people living there.

The ingenious transport links made moving around and visiting other settlements surprisingly easy. The researchers single out the astonishing network of causeways as “one of the crowning achievements” of the ancient Maya. Overall, the team identified 133.22 kilometers (82.8 miles) of roads linking different settlements, with a further 38.23 kilometers (23.8 miles) of intrasite causeway. Scientists also discovered that the people occupying this region had built canals for moving water and reservoirs for holding it to allow for use during dry periods.

The study results are vital because the discovery contradicts theories suggesting early Mesoamerican settlements tended to be sparsely populated. This previously unknown Maya civilization comprised more than 1,000 settlements covering approximately 650 square miles, most of which were linked by multiple causeways.

The ancient Maya civilization of Northern Guatemala was sophisticated. To create settlements, infrastructures of this type would have required highly skilled “lime producers, mortar and quarry specialists, lithic technicians, architects, logistics and agricultural procurement specialists, and legal enforcement and religious officials, all operating under a political and ideological homogeneity.”

In addition, "the magnitude of the labor in the construction of massive platforms, palaces, dams, causeways, and pyramids dating to the Middle and Late Preclassic periods throughout the MCKB suggests a power to organize thousands of workers,” say the researchers.

The study was published in the journal Ancient Mesoamerica.

Written by Conny Waters - AncientPages.com Staff Writer