In the jungles of Mexico, a graduate student accidentally found the lost city of Maya

Researchers have found in Mexico, the state of Campeche, a city of the Mayan civilization that disappeared in the tropics hundreds of years ago. The complex consists of pyramids, sports fields, dams and buildings.

This is reported by the BBC.

The archaeological find was named Valeriana, after the nearby lagoon. The city was found using Lidar, a technology that emits laser pulses that bounce off objects on the Earthʼs surface. Now, scientists believe that Valeriana is second only to Calakmul in terms of built-up density, so far the largest Mayan settlement in ancient Latin America.

In total, the team discovered three monuments in the study area, the size of the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh. It happened by chance when one of the archaeologists was browsing information on the Internet.

"I was on page 16 of the Google search engine and I found a laser study done by a Mexican environmental monitoring organization," explained Tulane University graduate student Luke Old-Thomas.

When he analyzed the data, he saw a city in which 30,000 to 50,000 people could live at the peak of its development, which was between 750 and 850 AD. The area of the settlement was almost 16.6 km², the settlement had two main centers with large buildings approximately 2 km apart. They were connected by houses and dams.

Valeriana had two squares with pyramid-temples, where the Maya performed religious ceremonies, buried treasures — jade masks — and the dead. A ball game was played on the playground. Scientists also found evidence that the city had a reservoir. This indicates a large population in the past.

It is not known for certain what led to the decline of Valeriana. However, archaeologists say that climate change, namely drought, contributed the most to this.

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Author: Anastasiia Mohylevets