A research team at Tulane University in New Orleans considers it to be the second largest known Mayan city in the region after Calakmul. It covers an area of more than 16 square kilometers and has two centers each with large buildings. These town centers, approximately two kilometers apart, were connected by houses and causeways. Overall, an area approximately twice as large as Grass (128 km2) was studied.
The city of Valeriana was discovered using laser mapping. This LIDAR technology can be used, among other things, to detect buildings and other heights and model their shape – even if they are completely covered by vegetation. The acronym LIDAR stands for Light Detection and Ranging and is a radar-like method of optical distance and speed measurement. These three-dimensional scans are primarily used to create high-resolution maps that are used in surveying, seismology, meteorology, and archaeology.
Hidden in the scenes in 2013
PhD student Luke Alt-Thomas stumbled upon the site while searching the Internet and came across LIDAR images of a Mexican system from 2013. They used the logs for ecological measurements in tropical forests.
It was only when the data was processed using software specially developed for the field of archeology that we saw what had been unseen until then: a large city at its peak – between 750 and 850 AD – had between 30,000 and 50,000 inhabitants. Today the area is sparsely populated.
The Late Classic period is set between 600 and 900 AD. During that time, Mayan culture spread throughout the Yucatan Peninsula and numerous new city-states were established. From the ninth century onwards, settlements were increasingly abandoned and irrigation systems fell into disrepair. The reasons for the sinking have not yet been clearly elucidated. A leading theory is that climate change is the cause.
“See how much the Maya changed the environment”
According to Marcello Canuto, director of Tulane University’s Central America Institute and co-author of the study, “Like many ancient cultures—the lowland Maya developed a very diverse settlement style. Cities and villages were spread across the tropical landscape.
Some areas had large agricultural areas and densely populated settlements, while others consisted of small villages. “However, we are now seeing how much the Maya changed their environment to enable a long-lived society.”
“Elements of a Capital”
According to the research team, valeriana has all the “elements of capital”. It is located 100 kilometers north-east of Kalakmul and its spectacular excavations.
Based on the discovery, Ald-Thomas says people may have previously had misconceptions about the lowland Maya. Research has focused heavily on cities — but the current findings may indicate that society is more village-like.
According to Canuto, LIDAR technology is expected to drastically accelerate the discovery and documentation of archaeological sites in the next few years. Alt-Thomas said this was also “one of the downsides,” according to the BBC: “More than we’ve excavated,” as many Mayan cities are being discovered.
