Student Accidentally Discovers Ancient Mayan City Hidden in Mexican Jungle
In an unexpected twist straight out of an adventure movie, a Ph.D. student in archaeology has stumbled upon an ancient Mayan city lost for centuries in the jungles of southeastern Mexico. Luke Auld-Thomas, while conducting research with a small team, made the remarkable find near Campeche, Mexico, where he uncovered the city now named Valeriana—a discovery that could redefine our understanding of ancient Mayan civilization.
The ancient city of Valeriana, named after a nearby lagoon, emerged during a survey when Auld-Thomas stumbled upon unusual topographical data. “I was on something like page 16 of Google search and found a laser survey done by a Mexican organization,” he shared, illustrating the surprising nature of his discovery. This data, generated using Lidar—a technology that employs laser pulses to map surfaces from the air—revealed large, intricate structures hidden beneath dense vegetation.
Once the data was analyzed, Auld-Thomas and his team found themselves face-to-face with an enormous, previously unknown Mayan city. The city contained vast pyramids, sports fields, and intricate causeways connecting districts, suggesting a high level of urban organization.
For Auld-Thomas, who called the environment “colorful, lush, and striking,” the scale of the find was astounding. He described the vibrant palaces and temples as once painted in colors like red, pink, and yellow—a stark contrast to the ruins’ current state.
Based on their analysis of the site, Auld-Thomas and his team believe Valeriana once housed an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 people, likely thriving between 750 and 850 AD.
Evidence suggests the city was not only a spiritual hub but also a center of craftsmanship, with people likely dedicating time to creating pottery and shaping stone tools. Auld-Thomas hinted at the discovery of marketplaces, where the city’s residents might have traded these handcrafted goods.
Auld-Thomas described the city’s layout, noting its two central hubs separated by dense residential areas and connected by causeways.
The city covered about 16.6 square kilometers and was organized in a way that suggests an impressive level of civil engineering. In addition to the larger buildings and ceremonial centers, the team discovered clusters of smaller structures, indicating zones dedicated to specific crafts or trades.
Perhaps most astonishingly, the city was “hiding in plain sight.
” Located only a 15-minute hike from a major road near Xpujil, where modern-day Maya people still reside, Valeriana lay untouched and undiscovered for centuries. This close proximity to civilization adds a layer of irony to the story, as countless travelers unknowingly passed by a once-thriving ancient metropolis.
The discovery has sparked interest from historians and archaeologists worldwide, who are eager to uncover more details about the city’s role in Mayan civilization.
The nearby road’s accessibility may also make Valeriana an ideal location for further studies without requiring the challenging expeditions typically associated with jungle archaeology.
The significance of Valeriana’s discovery cannot be understated.
Auld-Thomas’s accidental find adds another layer to our understanding of the Mayan civilization’s reach and cultural complexity. The presence of intricate urban planning, combined with the artistic and commercial aspects of life in Valeriana, challenges previous assumptions about the sophistication of Mayan cities in this region.
Valeriana now stands as a remarkable testament to the ingenuity of the Mayan people, a vibrant civilization that constructed advanced cities in regions that, until recently, were presumed to be largely uninhabited.
Auld-Thomas’s findings contribute to a growing body of evidence that these ancient cities were far more complex and widespread than historians previously imagined.
Would You Explore the Lost City of Valeriana?
What do you think about the discovery of this hidden city? Are you ready to dive into the depths of the jungle to see it for yourself? Share your thoughts on this incredible find and what it means for our understanding of ancient civilizations!
