Lidar helps uncover an ancient, kilometer-long Mayan structure – TechCrunch:
Lidar is fast becoming one of the most influential tools in archaeology, revealing things in a few hours what might have taken months of machete wielding and manual measurements otherwise. The latest such discovery is an enormous Mayan structure, more than a kilometer long, 3,000 years old, and seemingly used for astronomical observations.
Takeshi Inomata of the University of Arizona is the lead author of the paper describing the monumental artificial plateau, published in the journal Nature. This unprecedented structure — by far the largest and oldest of its type — may remind you of another such discovery, the "Mayan megalopolis" found in Guatemala two years ago.
[...] Such huge structures, groups of foundations, and other evidence of human activity may strike you as obvious. But when you're on the ground they're not nearly as obvious as you'd think — usually because they're covered by both a canopy of trees and thick undergrowth.
"I have spent thousands of hours of fieldwork walking behind a local machete-wielding man who would cut straight lines through the forest," wrote anthropologist Patricia McAnany, who was not involved in the research, for an commentary that also appeared in Nature. "This time-consuming process has required years, often decades, of fieldwork to map a large ancient Maya city such as Tikal in Guatemala and Caracol in Belize."
[...] What emerged was an enormous ceremonial center now called Aguada Fénix, the largest feature of which is an artificial plateau more than 10 meters tall and 1.4 kilometers in length. It is theorized that these huge plateaus, of which Aguada Fénix is the oldest and largest, were used to track the movement of the sun through the seasons and perform various rites.
Journal Reference:
Takeshi Inomata, Daniela Triadan, Verónica A. Vázquez López, et al. Monumental architecture at Aguada F├⌐nix and the rise of Maya civilization, Nature (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2343-4)
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Sunday June 07 2020, @01:43AM (4 children)
Maybe humans migrated from North America to Europe?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 5, Funny) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday June 07 2020, @03:24AM (3 children)
Hey! That explains why they speak Spanish in Spain!
(Score: 2, Funny) by fustakrakich on Sunday June 07 2020, @05:03AM (2 children)
And we all know where chocolate really comes from...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Touché) by captain normal on Sunday June 07 2020, @05:15AM (1 child)
You two have been watching way too much Ancient Aliens on the "Used to Be History Channel".
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: 1) by DECbot on Sunday June 07 2020, @06:40PM
What other reasons would the Mayans have a railgun? Ritual sacrifice? They weren't Aztecs.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 07 2020, @05:26AM (4 children)
How does this "discovery" of an ancient Mayan building affect anyone at all? Why would anyone at all care about this?
Now, I know, my comment will be censored to -1 to avoid answering this simple question. But why are we paying for "research" like this when there are far more important problems to be solved like the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change? How does a building used for determining when ancient people performed their batshit crazy religious ceremonies affect anyone in the present day?
I think we all know the answer to this question. There is absolutely no value to this research. However, instead of admitting this, my comment will be censored to -1 to avoid the question.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 07 2020, @09:36AM (2 children)
There is no value *to you*. Which is much different than no value at all.
What's more, you haven't been *censored* at all. If you had been, I wouldn't be able to see your idiotic comment and reply to it.
I will likely also be downmodded as '-1 offtopic' too. However, that's because your comment and mine are not germane to the topic at hand. And I won't whinge like a little bitch about it like you do.
Your comment is much like the one from apk below, not germane to the topic and gratuitously obnoxious.
If you're not interested in archaeology, don't read/post in archaeology discussions.
If there's stuff you'd rather discuss, submit an article. In fact, in the time you took to complain about this, you could have submitted an article that actually interests you. A crazy thought, I know.
As for the general topic of history/archaeology, Eugen Weber had it right [youtube.com]:
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 07 2020, @09:26PM (1 child)
Thanks for the measured and useful response. Hopefully the good actor, non-troll ACs pay attention to the ideas you list. It'd make for better conversations here.
But yeah, thanks - not just for the info you provided, but also for how you phrased it. Gentle, chiding, but not mean or demeaning. Not argumentative or escalating, and offering real options for positions that you don't hold. Very intellectually honest, and very appreciated.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 07 2020, @11:28PM
Don't encourage this sort of behavior! We have a reputation to maintain!
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Sunday June 07 2020, @03:15PM
I doubt an archeologist would be much help solving COVID-19 nor climate change.
I came. I saw. I forgot why I came.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 07 2020, @05:39AM (2 children)
See subject & a NICE DOSE of PUBLIC HUMILIATION for your own local FREAK barbara hudson folks: I "apologized" to you TRANNY twisto https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?cid=937346&sid=35327 [soylentnews.org] ? FUCK NO, not ever: That's NOT me but I DESTROYED YOU PUBLICLY on every level including proving you barb stalk me on THIS SITE https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=33430&page=1&cid=889582#commentwrap [soylentnews.org] with more proof QUOTED FROM YOU DIRECTLY barbara (tom) hudson proving are a technical incompetent brain-damaged transsexual fool BULLSHIT ARTIST FUCKUP worthless creep that also failed on tech vs. me.
My post LITERALLY also shows links to stopping hundreds of threats of MANY KINDS via hosts (since 99% of malicious threats online use hostnames - block them as I do in hosts (less overhead vs. ANYTHING else by FAR & pure kernelmode TCP/IP stack efficient no less)? Can't TOUCH you nor you it. That's ONLY a 1 year only as a sample and I'd done TONS MORE many hundreds more at slashdot before that and yes 99% use hostnames so hosts work against them harming you). I am GOD'S GIFT to you rotten bastards. This SHITHOLE website is USELESS and runs on OBSOLETE code RIPPED OFF from /. & made EVEN WORSE by INCOMPETENT admins here.
So much for your usual lies barb and useless online troll chatterbox you has never done better work and I fairly challenged you to show you did. You have not.
You people need to STOP BULLYING ME & show RESPECT for your BETTERS. PROVE you've done better than I. You CAN'T & you KNOW it so you IMPERSONATE & STALK me instead. I'm so SICK & TIRED of FAKENAME FORUM FUCKS like YOU who are JEALOUS so you BULLY & IMPERSONATE little ol' me. I've done absolutely NOTHING wrong & YOU KNOW IT.
NOW: You RESORTING TO IMPERSONATING ME on your end only PROVES I really got to you barb/tom hudson tranny.
So much so you are reduced to showing us your true scum bag self in fact. Thought YOU were going to SUE me? LMAO for what? FACTS ABOUT YOU??? LOL!
* YOU WILL ALWAYS FAIL vs. me just as you FAILED @ being a MAN & since you couldn't GET ANY PUSSY you (lmao) DECIDED in your DRUG ADDLED BRAIN to SLICE OFF YOUR COCK & build your OWN pussy (only way you'd "get some", ever).... OMG!
Only thing that "looks like SHIT" is you you FUCKED UP abomination of desolation freak.
TO THE MORON technically WEAK whimp THAT OWNS THIS SITE: Do you REALLY *THINK* (beyond your abilities MORON vs. me) YOU CAN "HOLD ME OUT/DOWN"?
You've tried to for DAYS just as /. did ONLY TO HAVE ME FUCKING SHOW EVERYONE YOU ARE A POWERLESS FUCK vs. me (& believe me - IF I wanted to? I could DROP THIS SITE OFFLINE in minutes, but it is MORE FUN to expose YOU & this shitbag LYING scum TRANZOID barbara hudson, publicly - QUESTION: HOW DO SHITBAGS like you ALL live with yourselves?)
I am IMPOSING MY WILL on you fucker - enjoy.
APK
P.S.=> Hey FREAK? I'm going to PUBLICLY EMBARRASS YOUR ASS SO BAD on this site you will have to SLINK AROUND IN SHAME publicly but then, "your kind" (massive MASSIVE total losers in life) are USED to that, aren't you? You don't LIKE IT but I LOVE doing it, exposing you as the TRASH you are fucker... apk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 07 2020, @12:14PM
Naah man. You have no idea how easy it is to get pussy as a dick girl. Lesbians, straight girls, guys with pussies, everybody wants the girl cock. Sucks to be you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 07 2020, @11:30PM
Someone is asking for a Spam mod. Please oblige, if you be able.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Sunday June 07 2020, @10:09AM
I would have liked to see the Lidar pictures, but:
uMatrix has prevented the following page from loading:
https: // guce.advertising.com/collectIdentifierssessionId=3_cc-session_1c etc etc.
And the Nature site:
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(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 07 2020, @11:11AM (3 children)
>> "I have spent thousands of hours of fieldwork walking behind a local machete-wielding man who would cut straight lines through the forest," wrote anthropologist Patricia McAnany.
Why didn't she hire a machete-wielding woman, transvestite, or one of the 92 other genders?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 07 2020, @07:12PM
They probably don't make those in rural Guatemala.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 07 2020, @09:36PM
1) Naming past workers "men", who presented as men, isn't being sexist any more than calling Winston Churchill a man is sexist. These aren't hypothetical workers, but concrete people the author interacted with in the past. If there had been women among them, the author could (should!) have said so. Not saying so implies basically nothing about anything except who this person was able to find to hire to cut paths.
2) if you think that transvestite is a gender, you're alone in that. Did you mean transsexual? If so, transsexual is also not a gender, and there's no way to know if a man swinging a machete in front of me is trans or cis, unless we take a piss together, or get more intimate.
IDK why you thought it was a good idea to post that. Your mind is not clear. You should sit down, shut up, and read or listen or otherwise research, instead of trying to participate in this conversation. You're like the 3yo who tries to help cook, sees bits going into the compost, and throws the diced veg into the compost. It's awkward to watch and wastes time and resources.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 07 2020, @11:23PM
They tried hiring some blind guy but it just didn't work out.