Pictures: Massive Maya City Revealed by Lasers

[Shannon Graham]

Maya Temple, Unmasked
Image courtesy University of Central Florida Caracol Archaeological Project

Among other features, the new LiDAR images captured Caracol's tallest buildings, a set of palaces and temples called Caana.

To reproduce the landscape in 3-D, a twin-engine plane flew over the city and fired laser beams through the dense tree canopy. The beams bounced off the ground, buildings, and other structures below. (See an interactive map of the Maya civilization.)

The laser's path from plane to ground and back again was then measured and triangulated with the aid of GPS equipment to create the data for the 3-D maps.

Full story here.

[DesertWalker]

Very interesting! Thanks!

[Buckeye]

Cool, I minored in anthropology in college and read alot about the Maya.