Lost ancient Mayan city discovered ‘by accident’ in deep jungle

Archaeologists have stumbled upon a vast ancient Mayan city built centuries ago beneath the dense jungles of Mexico.

The hidden urban center of the southeastern state of Campeche has sports fields, amphitheaters and pyramids, reports the BBC.

The discovery was made using Ltdar’s advanced mapping technology – laser imaging that maps structures buried under vegetation.

The newly discovered city, known as Valeriana, is the second most densely populated city after Calakmul in Mexico, which is considered the largest Mayan settlement in ancient Latin America.

It was found by American researcher and graduate student Luke Old-Thomas while looking through numbers online.

“I was on page 16 of a Google search and found a laser study done by a Mexican environmental monitoring organization,” he said.

The study was completed using Ltdar, which fires thousands of laser pulses from an aircraft and maps objects below, using the time it takes for the signal to return.

Old Thomas then used archaeological methods to process the information and discovered a huge ancient city, believed to have a population of between 30,000 and 50,000 people.

Researchers believe that the metropolis reached its peak between 750 and 850 AD.

Its size was about 16.6 square kilometers, which is larger than Sydney. It had two main centers connected by dense houses and roads.