The Lost Cities of Guatemala

Alan Wood & Partners www.alanwood.co.uk THE LOST CITIES OF GUATEMALA An ancient Maya pyramid has been discovered amongst the thick vegetation of the Guatemalan jungle, thanks to LIDAR technology. Archaeologists have been using LiDAR to map the jungles of Guatemala from the sky to uncover thousands of hidden Mayan structures. A recent survey of 2,100 square kilometres revealed over 60,000 unknown structures across Maya locations such as El Zotz and Tikal. This included structures such as: Pyramids Roads Defence Walls Homes What is LIDAR? LIDAR (which stands for Light Detection and Ranging) is a remote sensing method which uses a constant pulse of laser light to measure distances to the Earth's surface. As an airplane-mounted device sends pulses of laser light over the terrain below, a detailed measurement analysis of the time taken for the beams to reach the surface is then converted into accurate topographic data. 華 Fig 1 Fig 2 Figure 1 illustrates dense forest undergrowth. General aerial survey methods struggle to penetrate through the thick vegetation. Figure 2 illustrates that LIDAR can digitally filter out the thick vegetation of the jungle, helping researchers get a better view of what lies beneath the surface. This new cutting edge surveying technology has highlighted that ancient civilisations were much larger that first thought. Populations have been estimated from a few million up to 20 million! Alan Wood & Partners has developed an in-house team of experienced land surveyors offering high quality and accurate topographical surveys. This is essential on any project and will avoid costly mistakes or unforeseen issues on any project. Alan Wood & Partners have offices based in Hull, Lincoln, London, Scarborough, Sheffield and York. For full details about the topographical surveys services they can offer please visit www.alanwood.co.uk/category/civil-engineering/topographicsurveys Alan Wood & Partners have six offices across the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire region - Hull, Lincoln, London, Scarborough, Sheffield and York. Established in Hull in the 1960's, Alan Wood & Partners provide a comprehensive range of engineering services to the construction industry. Alan Wood & Partners Alan Wood & Partners are proud to deliver outstanding customer care, delivered by specialist teams, with the skills and experience required.