With the help of laser radar, archaeologists managed to find the ancient city of Angamuco, striking in its size: researchers counted more than 40,000 building foundations in it.
A half-hour drive from the large Mexican city of Morelia, archaeologists explored the area with the help of a lidar to study the ancient possessions of the still existing Purepecha tribe - the neighbors and longtime rivals of the Aztecs.
Less famous than the Aztecs, Purépecha was nevertheless the main civilization in central Mexico in the early 16th century, before Europeans arrived on the continent, bringing chaos, war and disease. The capital of the ancient state was the city of Tsintsuntzan, located on the shores of Lake Patzcuaro in the western part of modern Mexico.
Using lidar, the researchers found that the newly discovered city of Angamuko was more than twice the size of Tsintsuntzan, although it probably wasn't nearly as populous. The city is 26 sq. km thousands of years ago was covered with a lava flow.
Angamuko. Image / C Fisher
Lidar (LIDAR transliteration in English. Light Identification Detection and Ranging - detection, identification and range determination using light), or laser radar, is a technology for obtaining and processing information about remote objects using active optical systems that use the phenomena of absorption and scattering of light in optically transparent environments.
“We counted over 40,000 building foundations here, which is comparable to the number of buildings on Manhattan Island,” said Chris Fisher, an archaeologist at the University of Colorado. “We believe that during its heyday between 1000 and 1350, this city had over 100,000 inhabitants. Today it is the largest ancient city of those times known to us in Western Mexico."
Squares, patios and other infrastructure of Angamuco. Image / C Fisher
Promotional video:
The use of lidar allowed scientists to obtain interesting data. Thus, it was discovered that the city had a rather unusual layout. The pyramids and squares were concentrated in eight zones around the city instead of the traditional central location. Also, the researchers obtained high quality images of various urban objects: pyramids, temples, road networks, park areas, etc.
Julia Koshkina