Researchers used laser technology to scan a hill next to an ancient Mayan city and were shocked to find the hill was actually ruins of structures from a different civilization.
Gizmodo reports that archaeologists working in Guatemala’s ancient Mayan city of Tikal have stumbled on a very surprising discovery.
After using laser-based sensing technology called Lidar, the team found that the hills next to Tikal are actually not hills at all, but the ruins of foreign buildings that look very different from those of Tikal.
After studying the hidden neighborhood, researchers found that the architecture of its buildings is alien to that of Tikal, and looks exactly like the architecture of Teotihuacan, an ancient city near modern-day Mexico City.
Situated 1,200 kilometers from Tikal, Teotihuacan was the most powerful city in the ancient Americas, the capital of a culture that was very different from the Mayans and also dominated the Mayans.
The fact that an entire neighborhood of Teotihuacan existed right next to the center of Tikal suggests to the researchers that the area was created to remind the Mayans of the imperial power of mighty Teotihuacan.
The two cultures lived in relative peace for centuries, until Teotihuacan conquered Tikal in 378 CE.
SHARJAH24
