Have We Found All the Major Maya Cities? Not Even Close, New Research Suggests

Credit: Lukas Auld-Thomas

Ancient buildings and landscape modifications—including public plazas, agricultural terraces, and field walls—blanket uplands, while low-lying areas that flood seasonally were mostly unmodified save for the construction of reservoirs.

« Have We Found All the Major Maya Cities? Not Even Close, New Research Suggests

Credit: Lukas Auld-Thomas

Ancient buildings and landscape modifications—including public plazas, agricultural terraces, and field walls—blanket uplands, while low-lying areas that flood seasonally were mostly unmodified save for the construction of reservoirs.

« Have We Found All the Major Maya Cities? Not Even Close, New Research Suggests

Credit: Lukas Auld-Thomas

Ancient buildings on a leveled hilltop are glimpsed in a narrow transect of lidar survey data, in an area currently mantled in tropical forest.

« Have We Found All the Major Maya Cities? Not Even Close, New Research Suggests

Credit: Lukas Auld-Thomas

Ancient buildings clustered on a hilltop are revealed by a narrow transect of lidar survey data, while a satellite image reveals the modern agriculture and road-building taking place in the valleys below.

« Have We Found All the Major Maya Cities? Not Even Close, New Research Suggests

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