Massive Maya City Found By Lasers

[Aesop Rocks]

Airborne lasers have "stripped" away thick rain forests to reveal new images of an ancient Maya metropolis that's far bigger than anyone had thought.
An April 2009 flyover of the Maya city of Caracol used Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) equipment—which bounces laser beams off the ground—to help scientists construct a 3-D map of the settlement in western Belize. The survey revealed previously unknown buildings, roads, and other features in just four days, scientists announced earlier this month at the International Symposium on Archaeometry in Tampa, Florida. (Read about the rise and fall of the Maya in National Geographic magazine.)
University of Central Florida anthropologists Arlen and Diane Chase have spent decades hacking through the tangled undergrowth that has engulfed the powerful city—which thrived between A.D. 550 and 900. So far they've uncovered only a tiny fraction of the ruins.
"It's like literally removing all of the plant growth, so that we can see down below," Arlen Chase said.
The Chases direct the University of Central Florida Caracol Archaeological Project, a collaborative effort with the Belize Institute of Archaeology. NASA funded the 2009 LiDAR survey, which was carried out by the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping.

source

 

[terry78]

I sense a Spielberg movie in the making.

 

[THE MR. TERRIFIC]

I sense a Spielberg movie in the making.

Or Michael Bay!

 

[Aesop Rocks]

They've made a movie together, c'mon guys!

 

[TNC9852002]

I think I see "2012" in the landscape..

 

[DarkReflections]

I sense a Spielberg movie in the making.

Yeah and I bet it would be Indiana Jones 5.

 

[SuperFerret]

Oh, lasers, is there anything you can't do? Y'know, aside from love.

 

[Wolfwood]

Maybe they'll discover a calendar that starts on December 21st 2012.

 

[SuperFerret]

Nah, they won't.

 

[Wolfwood]

Oh....

 

[Aesop Rocks]

I dunno, maybe they'll find a new dinosaur .

 

[Gilpesh]

I vote this thread as "Best Thread Title Ever".

 

[terry78]

I misread the title at first and replaced the a in lasers with an o.

 

[Aesop Rocks]

I vote this thread as "Best Thread Title Ever".

YOU KNOW YOU LOVE IT.

 

[Immortalfire]

Maybe they'll discover a calendar that starts on December 21st 2012.

Salvation is at hand.

 

[Drizzle]

 

[Majic Walrus]

Lasers make everything better.

 

[Aesop Rocks]

You got it dude!

 

[The Battousai]

Maybe they'll discover a calendar that starts on December 21st 2012.

You mean like the cyclical one that they used?

 

[Gilpesh]

Alright. Maybe using a laser was a bad idea:

 

[Aesop Rocks]

I actually found the laser they used:

Spoiler

 

[Maximum Carnage]

.. AHHH!! ****ing run!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Paroxysm]

Haha, 4 days of laser scanning reveals more of than 20 years of hoofing.

 

[raybia]

source

I misread the title. I thought a Mayan city was found with Lasers.

 

[Poetic Chaos]

Alright. Maybe using a laser was a bad idea: