专家激光扫描危地马拉丛林,发现未知的玛雅结构

Ancient Maya Structures Found in Guatemalan Jungle

Researchers using new aerial mapping technology have found thousands of never-before-detected ancient structures from the Maya civilization.

They examined from above an area of dense¹ jungle in Guatemala’s Peten region. They discovered thousands of houses, defense² works and pyramids.

They also found industrial-sized agricultural fields and canals that provided water for farms. The findings suggest that millions more people lived in the area than researchers had long believed.

A team of archaeologists from Europe, the United States and Guatemala announced their findings earlier this month. The team worked with Guatemala’s Maya Heritage and Nature Foundation.

Their study says that around 10 million people may have once lived within the area known as the “Maya Lowlands.”

“That is two to three times more than people were saying there were,” said Marello A Canuto in an interview with the Associated Press. He is an anthropology³ professor at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The researchers used a mapping method called Light Detection and Ranging, or LiDAR. A device sends laser light from high above, which hits the ground and then returns back to the device. The technology can reveal shapes and structures hidden by dense trees and plants.

The recent images revealed that the Maya changed the natural environment much more than researchers had thought. In some areas, they developed 95 percent of the available land.

Francisco Estrada-Belli is a Research Assistant Professor at Tulane University. He said the Maya’s agricultural methods were “much more intensive and therefore sustainable than we thought.”

Structures such as the extensive defensive⁴ barriers and canals suggest a highly organized workforce⁵. Large canals even re-directed natural water flows.

The 2,100 square kilometers of mapping greatly expands the area that the Maya were known to have occupied. Their culture flourished between about 1,000 BC and 900 AD. Maya descendants still live across Central America and in parts of Mexico.

The mapping detected about 60,000 individual structures. They included four major Maya ceremonial centers with plazas⁶ and pyramids.

Thomas Garrison⁷ is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Ithaca College in New York. He worked on the project and is an expert on the city of El Zotz, near Guatemala’s Tikal.

He said he went to the area earlier this year with the LiDAR information to look for one of the roads that was revealed in the findings.

“I found it,” Garrison said. “But if I had not had the LiDAR and known...that’s what it was, I would have walked right over it, because of how dense the jungle is.”

Garrison said that the fields, roads and structures built by some other ancient cultures got destroyed by later generations of farming.

But in this case, the jungle grew over the abandoned Maya fields and structures. This both hid them and protected them from damage.

I’m Pete Musto.

Words in This Story

aerial – adj. taken or seen from an airplane

civilization – n. a particular well-organized and developed group of people in a given country, area, or time, thought of especially as an organized community

jungle – n. a tropical forest where plants and trees grow very thickly

region – n. a part of a country or of the world that is different or separate from other parts in some way

pyramid(s) – n. a very large structure that has a square base and four triangular⁸ sides which form a point at the top

archaeologist(s) – n. a person who studies the science that deals with past human life and activities by studying the bones, buildings and tools of ancient people

anthropology – n. the study of human races, origins, societies, and cultures

sustainable – adj. involving methods that do not completely use up or destroy natural resources

flourish(ed) – v. to grow well

descendant(s) – n. someone who is related to a person or group of people who lived in the past

plaza(s) – n. an open public area that is usually near city buildings and that often has trees and bushes and places to sit, walk, and shop

abandoned – adj. left by the owner

1 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

2 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

3 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

4 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

5 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

6 plazas   

n.（尤指西班牙语城镇的）露天广场( plaza的名词复数 )；购物中心

参考例句：

• At focal points, there are seating plazas as rest points for users. 在主要主景点上，有空间较大的广场提供休息的地方。 来自互联网
• Such products are suitable for lighting and decoration of plazas, courtyards, parks, residential district and roadside. 本产品适合于广场、庭院，公园、小区草坪和道路的装饰和照明。 来自互联网

7 garrison   

n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防

参考例句：

• The troops came to the relief of the besieged garrison.军队来援救被围的守备军。
• The German was moving to stiffen up the garrison in Sicily.德军正在加强西西里守军之力量。

8 triangular   

adj.三角（形）的，三者间的

参考例句：

• It's more or less triangular plot of land.这块地略成三角形。
• One particular triangular relationship became the model of Simone's first novel.一段特殊的三角关系成了西蒙娜第一本小说的原型。