Laser Mapping Shows Ancient City in Mexico Contained 40,000 Buildings

Researchers used LiDAR scanning to reveal the sprawling metropolis of Angamuco




Colorado State University archeologist Chris Fisher has used the laser mapping technique in Mexico and Honduras. (Colorado State University)


By Julissa Treviño
smithsonian.com
2 hours ago

Laser Mapping Shows Ancient City in Mexico Contained 40,000 Buildings
Researchers used LiDAR scanning to reveal the sprawling metropolis of Angamuco


When researchers first found Angamuco, an ancient city in western Mexico built by rivals of the Aztecs, back in 2007, they tried several methods to explore the site, including an on-the-ground approach.

While this yielded a finding of impressive architectural features, they quickly realized it would take them a decade to survey the entire area, much of it rugged terrain. So they turned to a laser mapping technique kn
own as light detection and ranging or LiDAR scanning.

As Nicola Davis reports for the Guardian, using the scanning technology, the team, led by Chris Fisher, an archaeologist at Colorado State University, has now explored the full extent of the city, and found that Angamuco once had as many buildings as modern-day Manhattan.

Fisher presented his team’s latest findings last week at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference in Austin, Texas. He tells Smithsonian.com that the discovery underscores how much there is to learn about the area. “In the 21st century, everybody thinks we have everything figured out, and we still have so much to discover,” he says. “It’s a pretty well-traveled part of Mexico, and during 2007, we were able to find this city the was undocumented.”

Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/laser-mapping-reveals-ancient-mexican-city-once-had-many-buildings-manhattan-180968202/#zYaOzru97SYq1od0.99


Angamuco:



Google translation:

Angamuco, pre-Hispanic city that had as many buildings as Manhattan
It is a thousand-year-old city in Mexico with as many buildings as Manhattan.
by LaVerdad

February 16, 2018 · 4:14 pm

In Mexico it is not uncommon for constant discoveries to be made, especially of pre-Hispanic cultures, since they keep great secrets that are slowly coming to light, and recently a great discovery was made that has left everyone surprised as it reveals the existence of a great city that until now was unknown: Angamuco; They say I had as many buildings as Manhattan.

The pre-Hispanic city of Angamuco, is an old lost place located in the center of the country, just an hour's drive from Morelia, Michoacán to Mexico City, which is believed to be built by the Purépecha culture.



It was thanks to the help of LiDAR technology, light detection and ranging scanning that it was concluded that this metropolis could be twice as big as Tzintzuntzan, capital of the Purépecha empire, but not so populated with an estimated 100,000 inhabitants between the years 1,000 and 1,350 of our era.

. . .

"This city was abandoned for years before the arrival of the Spaniards and was occupied again afterwards by the Purépechas"

. . .



Image of the city seen through the Lidar technique

More:
https://laverdadnoticias.com/mexico/Angamuco-ciudad-prehispanica-que-tenia-tantos-edificios-como-Manhattan-20180216-0060.html

More images of this zone:

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