How do you find a lost city?

With lasers, apparently.

Archaeologists used laser-sensing technology. They found what may be an ancient Mayan city. It’s hidden in the jungles of southern Mexico.

They call the lost city Valeriana. 

A report published the findings this week. The report says some jungle spots that seem empty deserve a closer look.

Adriana Velázquez Morlet works at Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology. (Anthropologists study how human societies develop.) She says the study “shows that a little-known region was a urbanized landscape.” In other words, maybe it wasn’t just a place a few people lived.  Maybe it was a city.

The laser tech worked like this. A plane sent down thousands of laser pulses. The pulses mapped the landscape. The technique can find geographic differences in the land that the naked eye can’t see. 

Researchers captured images covering about 47 square miles. They found about 6,479 structures. These seemed to include platforms for temples and houses. There were also agricultural terraces and even what appears to be a dam. People may have built the structures as long ago as A.D. 250. 

We already know quite a bit about the Mayan people. They left hieroglyphic writings. We know they were farmers. They built pyramid temples. They also worked with gold and copper. Now scholars will compare old information with new. 

Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. — Hebrews 13:14