Mexico City, Oct. 30 (BUS): A laser-assisted study of the sprawling city of Calakmul in southern Mexico is providing tantalizing new evidence that it may have been the most crowded ancient urban center of Maya civilization during the height of Classical civilization some 1,300 years ago.
A new LIDAR study announced by the Mexican Archaeological Institute late Wednesday covers the forest-covered ruins of the once mighty Calakmul, located in the central lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula near the Guatemalan border.
Kalkumul flourished during the heyday of the Classic Maya from around AD 250-900, housing huge pyramids, palaces and temple complexes, only a small part of which has been excavated, according to Reuters.
At its peak, fearsome Snake dynasty rulers who wrestled for power with other kingdoms at a time of major human achievements in writing, mathematics, and art ruled it throughout the Mayan world of present-day Central America and southern Mexico.
Catherine Rhys-Taylor, a University of Calgary researcher affiliated with the LIDAR study, explained in a webcast that new maps of the site reveal several previously unknown buildings that show Calgary was even denser than Tikal, the ancient Mayan capital located in northern Guatemala. To be the largest urban center of civilization.
LIDAR mapping technology uses aircraft to shoot pulses of light into dense forest canopies, allowing researchers to clear vegetation and reveal ancient structures below.
Rhys Taylor noted that new raw maps of barely three months old data show large-scale apartment complexes clustered around potential temples and markets.
She added that by AD 700, Calculum’s physical footprint was equal to that of modern-day Amsterdam or Brussels.
Previous estimates put the city’s population at around 50,000, but the new study may force a recalculation.
INAH said in a statement that the sheer density of the buildings indicates a large population and indicates that all available land was modified by the Maya, including previously unknown aqueducts, terraces and dams that were likely designed to protect the water supply and enhance Farmland.
“There are a lot of details, the big and small structures,” said Maya specialist Felix Kubrat at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, who is also part of the study team.
INAH added that new imaging will better inform conservation as well as future field archeology at the site, which will likely see more tourists.
The study comes as the Mexican government has accelerated the construction of a multi-billion dollar tourist train to boost visits and promote development in the archaeologically rich and impoverished Yucatan region.
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