He found an ancient city on the internet — Howtown

Quick Overview

Archaeologist Luke Auld-Thomas discovered the ancient Maya city of Valeriana in Mexico's Campeche region by re-analyzing old LiDAR survey data, revealing a major urban and agricultural landscape that was once a thriving center 1200 years ago, challenging the common perception of isolated jungle ruins.

Key Points: Archaeologist Luke Auld-Thomas discovered the ancient Maya city of Valeriana by re-examining LiDAR data from a 2013 forest monitoring project. The discovery was not accidental, as implied by news headlines, but resulted from a deliberate re-analysis of existing data a decade later. Valeriana is located on a hilltop in the jungle of Campeche, Mexico, near the community of Dos Lagunas. LiDAR technology allowed Auld-Thomas to digitally remove tree cover and reveal the extensive urban and agricultural structures of the ancient city. The finding demonstrates that ancient Maya sites were part of vast, interconnected agricultural and urban landscapes, not isolated jungle ruins, 1200 years ago. The city was named Valeriana after a nearby lagoon, Laguna La Valeriana.

Context: The video discusses the discovery of an ancient Maya city named Valeriana in Mexico by archaeologist Luke Auld-Thomas. This discovery was made possible by re-analyzing LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) survey data, a remote sensing method that uses pulsed laser light to measure distances and create detailed 3D maps of the Earth's surface, even beneath dense forest canopies. The narrative addresses a common misconception about how such discoveries are made and the true nature of ancient Maya settlements.

Detailed Analysis

The video details the discovery of Valeriana, a significant ancient Maya city in Mexico's Campeche region, by archaeologist Luke Auld-Thomas. Contrary to sensationalized headlines suggesting an accidental find by a "PhD student," Auld-Thomas, a 36-year-old archaeologist, deliberately re-analyzed LiDAR data collected in 2013 for a forest monitoring project. A decade after the initial survey, he processed the data to digitally remove the dense jungle canopy, immediately revealing the extensive structures of a major urban center. This city, named Valeriana after a nearby lagoon, is situated on a hilltop within an area where the local Dos Lagunas community has lived and farmed for generations. The discovery highlights the transformative power of LiDAR in archaeology, providing an unprecedented understanding of how the ancient Maya settled and developed vast agricultural and urban landscapes over 1200 years ago, challenging the popular image of isolated pyramids surrounded by untouched jungle. This new perspective reveals a much more complex and interconnected ancient civilization.