
Laser mapping reveals massive ancient Zapotec city in Mexican forest
Long thought to be a fortress, Guiengola has been revealed as a sprawling city thanks to airborne lidar analysis.
An ancient Mexican archaeological site, originally thought to be a fortress, is actually a sprawling and well-preserved 600-year-old city.
Built by the Zapotecs, the true extent of Guiengola, located
The Art Newspaper
February 18, 2025
© Photographs by Pedro Guillermo Ramón Celis, and the Guiengola Archaeological Project
around 520km south-east of Mexico City, has been revealed with the help of airborne lidar—a laser mapping technology that enables archaeologists to peer through the thick forest canopy covering the site and see the buildings hidden beneath.
“In my research, we discovered that what we thought was a fortress, was a whole urban settlement, with elite residences, temple-pyramids and commoner neighbourhoods,” says Pedro Guillermo Ramón Celis, a Banting postdoctoral researcher at McGill University in Canada, and author of the paper, published in the journal Ancient Mesoamerica.
“I found that this city is like a snapshot of how people built their urban areas and lived in them just before European contact.”
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