The excavations revealed that the Tikal buildings were made out of mud plaster rather than the traditional Maya limestone, suggesting some attempt to build replicas. "We ve rarely seen evidence of anything but two-way interaction between the two civilizations, but here, we seem to be looking at foreigners who are moving aggressively into the area." "It almost suggests that local builders were told to use an entirely non-local building technology while constructing this sprawling new building complex," says Houston. It seems to have been made by people from Teotihuacan, or locals under their control. The researchers suggest that the buildings could have been a diplomatic embassy of some kind, or perhaps a military outpost. Tikal and Teotihuacan were different in many ways, including their overall size (Teotihuacan was much larger). And all this time, there was part of it hidden from view.Įxcavations were carried out after the scans to confirm the results and the presence of these buildings, with the discovery of these Teotihuacan-like structures opening up some fascinating possibilities. What makes the finding even more surprising is that Tikal has been extensively searched and explored since the 1950s – it s one of the ancient cities that we know most about. "Regardless of who built this smaller-scale replica and why, it shows without a doubt that there was a different level of interaction between Tikal and Teotihuacan than previously believed." "What we had taken to be natural hills actually were shown to be modified and conformed to the shape of the citadel – the area that was possibly the imperial palace – at Teotihuacan," says anthropologist Stephen Houston from Brown University in Rhode Island. Even though they were more than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) away from each other, it s already known that traders traveled between the two urban centers. That could give researchers some useful clues as to how these two cities interacted.
What s more, the hidden ruins look to match the style of buildings in Teotihuacan – a sprawling metropolis established centuries before the rise of the Aztecs, built by a largely unknown culture.
Using LIDAR scanning equipment, researchers found evidence of development under what was thought to be a natural area. The discovery revealed that the city has been one of the most dominant settlements in the ancient Maya empire, particularly between 200-900 CE, at its peak it could have had as many as 90,000 people living there.
The city in question is Tikal, now in Guatemala. DUNYA NEWS (web desk) – Scientists have discovered a hidden neighborhood in one of the biggest historical Maya cities.
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