Lost Maya city with temple pyramids and plazas discovered in Mexico

[Judi Lynn]

2. Maya City of Epic Proportions Discovered Deep in Mexican Jungle

31 October 2024
By Carly Cassella



(Auld-Thomas et al., Antiquity, 2024)

Anthropologists have peered through the thick jungle of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula and identified a long-lost Maya city with stepped temple pyramids to rival Chichén Itzá, Río Bec, and Tikal.

Fieldwork on the ground is yet to be conducted by archaeologists, but based on remote sensing data, which maps entire landscapes under dense forests in minute detail, it seems this lush and verdant forest was once home to the Maya.

The newly described city, named Valeriana, features a crowded urban landscape and rural fringes that surpass any known Maya cities found in Belize or Guatemala.

Researchers from the US and Mexico have tallied no less than 6,764 structures hiding beneath the canopy that have never been studied before.



Valeriana
The core site of Valeriana, Block 2, using Lidar data. (Auld-Thomas et al., Antiquity, 2024)

More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/maya-city-of-epic-proportions-discovered-deep-in-mexican-jungle