According to Heritage Daily, the great cluster of structures with many temples, pyramids, houses, and public facilities is surprisingly modern and majestic, spread over an area of up to 70km2 in what is now the Project Area. Mexico’s Calakmul Biosphere Reserve.
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Before that, a few odd remnants of what was once the city of Calakmul, the “counterweight” of the famous Tikal, had been found under the canopy of the forest. This is the capital of the legendary “Kingdom of Snakes” in Central America, with the snake head symbol known as the Kaan appearing everywhere, as part of the mighty Maya empire.
3D image of the capital of the Snake Kingdom revealed by LiDAR – (Image: INAH)
To better understand what was hidden and the true scale of Calakmul, a team of scientists led from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and Mexico’s Bajo Laberinto Archaeological Project used use LiDAR to survey the area. The project also has the cooperation of many universities in the US.
LiDAR is a remote sensing method that uses lasers to “penetrate” dense trees and other disturbances, revealing a 3D map of buried ancient ruins.
LiDAR has shown an incredible image of an ancient city of up to 50,000 inhabitants, a remarkable scale in the 700s AD.
The city consisted of 60 architectural clusters grouped around temples or squares, or ancient trading centers. The density of structures and construction suggests that at the time Calakmul existed, it was one of the largest cities in the Americas.
The city’s infrastructure was also something of a shock to the researchers. “The extent of landscape reclamation can be comparable to the size of an urban population, as all available land is covered by canals, tall buildings, walls and dams, providing maximum food security. and enough water for the people of the city,” said INAH.
The enchanted capital of the Snake Kingdom will be studied in more detail in the future in the hope of revealing more details about the Maya civilization – a civilization that constantly amazes archaeologists.
