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Sprawling Mayan network discovered under Guatemala jungle

bbc.com

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Re: Sprawling Mayan network discovered under Guatemala jungle

#11

Post by mmjaa »

digi_owl wrote: post #9
empath75 wrote: post #4

You see overgrown mounds all over central america, and not all of them are volcanic. There's an immense amount of undiscovered history there.

Yeah i think we are heavily underestimating how quickly nature can retake cultivated land.

This is something that has always fascinated me - just how do the processes which cover a landscape with, say, layers and layers of sediment - or jungle cover - really work?

I mean, I get it - you leave something out, a few weeks later its going to get covered in a layer of dust/sediment. But how is it that entire cities get buried under 10's of meters of dirt? I'm sure geologists have this all figured out, but it always amazes me that our world changes like this so rapidly.

In this case, I'm sure the answer is 'the jungle eats everything' .. but there are places in the world, buried under meters of sand and sediment, that I just wonder .. how does this happen ..

Re: Sprawling Mayan network discovered under Guatemala jungle

#13

Post by XR0CSWV3h3kZWg »

brett40324 wrote: post #7

This highly corroborates Charles C Mann's book 1491: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1491:_New_Revelations_of_the... From wikipedia: The book presents recent research findings in different fields that suggest human populations in the Western Hemisphere—that is, the indigenous peoples of the Americas—were more numerous, had arrived earlier, were more sophisticated culturally, and controlled and shaped the natural land…

1491 and 1493 were very enjoyable. I'm having less fun with The Wizard and the Prophet

Re: Sprawling Mayan network discovered under Guatemala jungle

#14

Post by 52-6F-62 »

brett40324 wrote: post #7

This highly corroborates Charles C Mann's book 1491: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1491:_New_Revelations_of_the... From wikipedia: The book presents recent research findings in different fields that suggest human populations in the Western Hemisphere—that is, the indigenous peoples of the Americas—were more numerous, had arrived earlier, were more sophisticated culturally, and controlled and shaped the natural land…

This is not my field of expertise, but why wouldn't we just run LIDAR scans of as much of the earth's surface as possible?

Is it prohibitively expensive at this point? Is the computation [relatively] expensive? Is there a sound reason we don't race to do more?

I get the feeling this kind of data could inspire generations of new archaeologists and historians.

There are also some pseudo-archeological and pseudo-historical claims that might be put to rest (or less likely, cause a revolution in human self-knowledge). Eg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_pyramid_claims

I would also love to see plots like Cahokia (and others like it) scanned: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahokia

Re: Sprawling Mayan network discovered under Guatemala jungle

#16

Post by wjnc »

52-6F-62 wrote: post #14
brett40324 wrote: post #7

This highly corroborates Charles C Mann's book 1491: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1491:_New_Revelations_of_the... From wikipedia: The book presents recent research findings in different fields that suggest human populations in the Western Hemisphere—that is, the indigenous peoples of the Americas—were more numerous, had arrived earlier, were more sophisticated culturally, and controlled and shaped the natural land…

This is not my field of expertise, but why wouldn't we just run LIDAR scans of as much of the earth's surface as possible? Is it prohibitively expensive at this point? Is the computation [relatively] expensive? Is there a sound reason we don't race to do more? I get the feeling this kind of data could inspire generations of new archaeologists and historians. There are also some pseudo-archeological and pseudo-histori…

A few hints from the article: 810 sq miles mapped, a three year project and lidar flying by helicopter. Another giveaway is the search for MH370. In some dimensions Earth is still huge!

Re: Sprawling Mayan network discovered under Guatemala jungle

#18

Post by ch4s3 »

mmjaa wrote: post #11
digi_owl wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah i think we are heavily underestimating how quickly nature can retake cultivated land.

This is something that has always fascinated me - just how do the processes which cover a landscape with, say, layers and layers of sediment - or jungle cover - really work? I mean, I get it - you leave something out, a few weeks later its going to get covered in a layer of dust/sediment. But how is it that entire cities get buried under 10's of meters of dirt? I'm sure geologists have this all figured out, but it al…

Leaf litter accumulates and breaks down and becomes new soil, mountains and hills erode and that sediment accumulates in lower areas, wind move lots of sand and fine sediment around, All of that piles up in places until things once on top of the soil are now buried.

It's a little more complicated than that, but that's part of the process.

Another aspect is that cities used to literally rise as they deposited waste in situ and had to build up as 1st floors became basements. This is partially the source of mounds.

Neat reddit discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/17je7i/arche...

Re: Sprawling Mayan network discovered under Guatemala jungle

#19

Post by edgarvaldes »

mmjaa wrote: post #11
digi_owl wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah i think we are heavily underestimating how quickly nature can retake cultivated land.

This is something that has always fascinated me - just how do the processes which cover a landscape with, say, layers and layers of sediment - or jungle cover - really work? I mean, I get it - you leave something out, a few weeks later its going to get covered in a layer of dust/sediment. But how is it that entire cities get buried under 10's of meters of dirt? I'm sure geologists have this all figured out, but it al…

Yeah, same here. And some ancient cities and settlements have _layers_ below them[1]. How?

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy#Historical_Troy_uncovered

Re: Sprawling Mayan network discovered under Guatemala jungle

#20

Post by [deleted] »

mmjaa wrote: post #11
digi_owl wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah i think we are heavily underestimating how quickly nature can retake cultivated land.

This is something that has always fascinated me - just how do the processes which cover a landscape with, say, layers and layers of sediment - or jungle cover - really work? I mean, I get it - you leave something out, a few weeks later its going to get covered in a layer of dust/sediment. But how is it that entire cities get buried under 10's of meters of dirt? I'm sure geologists have this all figured out, but it al…

[deleted]
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