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'Game Changer': Maya Cities Unearthed In Guatemala Forest Using Lasers
By raining down laser pulses on some 770 square miles of dense forest in northern Guatemala, archaeologists have discovered 60,000 Maya structures that make up full sprawling cities.
And the new technology provides them with an unprecedented view into how the ancient civilization worked, revealing almost industrial agricultural infrastructure and new insights into Maya warfare.
"This is a game changer," says Thomas Garrison, an archaeologist at Ithaca College who is one of the leaders of the project. It changes "the base level at which we do Maya archaeology."
The data reveals that the area was three or four times more densely populated than originally thought. "I mean, we're talking about millions of people, conservatively," says Garrison. "Probably more than 10 million people."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 03 2018, @05:47PM (10 children)
There is ancient stonework that defies even our modern technology; we would not only struggle to lift many of these stones, but we find the exceptional craftsmanship difficult to reproduce even with computer-controlled diamond-based cutters.
We have no idea how they did it, or who did it.
This includes stonework [mis-]attributed to the ancient Egyptians, the Inca, the Romans, etc.
YouTube it.
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Saturday February 03 2018, @07:18PM (6 children)
Sorry, don't believe that.
In other words, we can do it just fine, it just takes some work to first figure out how to do it. One doesn't recreate centuries of lost stone-working knowledge overnight. This is basic engineering 101. When you start with a hard problem, break it up into a set of small problems that you can solve more easily. Not being able to perfectly emulate Incan stone-dressing and other ancient feats right off the bat isn't a big deal. It took them time to develop those skills and it would take us some time as well.
Who else lives there? This leads to the biggest problem with the whole thing. No genetic commonalities between these regions. If you have a global civilization with that sort of exchange of knowledge, you have genetic exchange as well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 03 2018, @08:54PM (1 child)
What an ass. "I don't believe that". Good for you. *pat* *pat* *pat*
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday February 04 2018, @04:17AM
I agree. Evidence is what matters here. That's what deflates these sorts of theories.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 03 2018, @09:07PM (1 child)
For instance, Amazon groups are linked with indigenous Australians [smithsonianmag.com]
Perhaps you're also not aware that we don't even know exactly who the ancient Egyptians were; it has been a topic of debate. [wikipedia.org] Recent tests of mummies indicate connections with Middle Easterners and Europeans>/a>. [cnn.com]
Look at you speaking with such smug confidence, when you clearly know jack shit! Ha! I love it!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday February 04 2018, @03:46AM
The glaring thing missing here is a global genetic signal. If there was any sort of cultural, knowledge, or economic exchange at the global level, there should be gene groups manifesting at the global level. That's just how people operate. There is not.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 03 2018, @09:32PM (1 child)
The OP is correct. There is a decree of precision that is hard to explain. For one, it's not just a matter of decoration; it's a matter of serious engineering, though even some of the decorative work (particularly in very hard stones) is difficult to accept on the basis of what archaeologists tell us about the tools that were available to these "primitive" peoples.
Also, work degrades with time; some of the best work is some of the very oldest. That suggests there is not a development in technology, but rather a legacy of technology.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday February 04 2018, @04:15AM
What is hard to explain about it? There's over a millennium of stone-working history in the region and the Incas were particularly good engineers with a lot of other accomplishments to their name (such as the terrace agriculture and extensive road and bridge systems).
Looking around, most of the best work was done during the reign of Pachacuti, in the mid to late 15th century with the European disaster befalling the empire a few decades after his death in the 1530s. So not seeing that claim.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 03 2018, @07:22PM (2 children)
Speaking of fallacies:
The obvious rebuttal is that our Atlantean AC is is something of a troll, and, I'm not saying it was aliens, but it was aliens!
(Keep in mind that this is one of his "good" posts, replete with argumentum ad ignorantiam and the thinking of a disordered mind.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 03 2018, @08:59PM (1 child)
Well, I'm not sure about your appraisal of the OP, but your own comment doesn't fair well in my appraisal.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @12:04AM
Now, let's analyze yours. [google.com]
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