Article content continued

Photo by PACUNAM/Estrada-Belli

For years, archeologists studying the Maya were plagued by not having a “clean picture” of the civilization. Now, Garrison said, that picture is complete and the results have led some to argue the Maya was more sophisticated than Europe or China 1,200 years ago.

“It would be like you knew Ottawa was there and Toronto was there, you wouldn’t know what was between Ottawa and Toronto,” said Kathyrn Reese-Taylor, a University of Calgary archeologist who did not participate in the survey. “It’s not a few little cities. This is like seeing Europe laid out before you.”

The Maya had a complex network of roads and highways used for trade. Without using the wheel, the Maya lugged their items — such as corn and grinding stones — into large backpacks. The LIDAR also revealed “grid-like reticular patterns” that archeologists determined to be raised fields to grow crops. There wasn’t much rainfall in the region and so to have enough water to drink and raise crops, the Maya controlled the flow of natural supply by creating canal systems, drainages and reservoirs in what was likely a state-sponsored program, Garrison said.

Photo by Courtesy of Proyecto Arqueológico El Zotz

According to the National Geographic, it’s now reasonable to believe that 15 million people lived in ancient Maya, which wasn’t an empire but a network of city states, compared to the 5 million that was previously estimated.

The LIDAR scans revealed a much more dense and advanced population.

Each city state has its own line of rulers and so conflict was only natural, the degree of which was revealed by the LIDAR scan. Archeologists discovered the ruins of a fortress between the kingdoms of Tikal and El Zotz.