Mirador National Park - 3D LiDAR Survey Uncovers Thousands of Structures in 25 Major Cities

As seen on the BBC, National Geographic and the Los Angeles Times this past year, amazing discoveries have been made uncovering thousands of ancient Maya temples, pyramids and city complexes deep in the jungles in the heart of the Maya Biosphere.

Led by Dr. Richard Hansen, Director of Mirador’s Foundation for Anthropological Research and Environmental Studies (FARES), aerial surveys of the Mirador Basin show an incredibly architectural legacy of the ancient Maya people. Some estimated over 1 million people lived in Mirador at its peak, before man-made environmental collapse (sounds familiar?).

One of the most important efforts in scientific conservation we are undertaking to secure Mirador’s long-term protection is the mapping of Mirador’s ancient cities and monuments using advanced LiDAR 3D scanners from aircraft.

All archaeological sites and monuments are protected under the Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala Law for Archaeological and Cultural Heritage for a radius of 3 kilometers. My mapping Mirador’s ancient cities and causeways, and registering these with the government, we will be able to legally protect over 90% of Mirador’s land area.

Combined with the new Mirador Park Authority, Ranger Teams and Community Ecoguards, Global Conservation and its partners are reaching a critical mass to protect Mirador against wildlife poaching, illegal logging, land clearing, looting and deforestation.

The Constitution of Guatemala and Laws for Cultural Heritage are the highest level of legal protection possible for protecting both Mirador’s monuments and its intact forests and wildlife habitats.  This year, our goal is to complete the 3D LiDAR mapping of the entire northern sector of Mirador, over 750 square miles (400,000 acres), which will cost approximately $300,000.

Overgrown by rain forest, a huge Maya causeway is still visible, connecting distant cities.

Dr. Richard Hansen of the Foundation for Anthropological Research and Environmental Studies (FARES), will use advanced 3D LiDAR scanners from an aircraft to produce detailed 3D maps of the ancient cities of Mirador for both legal and scientific purposes, including publication and formal government registration.

The Light Detection and Ranging tool, known as LiDAR, is capable of penetrating the thick jungle vegetation at a rate of 560,000 dots per second, producing detailed images that mimic a 3-D view of the scanned areas. LiDAR-derived images accurately portrayed structures, agricultural terraces, pyramids, canals, domestic animal corrals and a network of 17 roads or causeways.

The new Riegl LMS-Q1560 LiDAR mapping technology allowed capture of 560,000 points per second from a special-fitted aircraft, providing a speed and resolution previously unavailable to archaeological mapping programs.  With the LiDAR technology, we have been able to prove the incredible size and complexity of transport causeways revealing that the Maya rivaled the ancient Romans in road construction skills.

The first construction of causeways between Mirador and Tintal and Mirador and Nakbe dates to 600 and 400 B.C., while other causeways date from 300 BC to 100 A.D.  Mirador causeways are 130 feet wide, up to 20 feet high and in some cases they extend as far as 25 miles.

Fires destroying the Maya Biosphere Reserve surrounding Mirador. Within ten years, the entire areas will be gone without our protection.

The creation of these causeways allowed unification of what appears to be the first state-level society in the Western Hemisphere.Hansen and his colleagues believe the new findings may help to understand why the Mirador Basin civilization declined after 150 A.D. The collapse is being investigated by a variety of researchers from 34 universities and institutions from around the world.

Once the mapping is processed, we will work with the Ministry of Culture and National Mapping Agency of Guatemala to formally register all archaeological sites of Mirador with the government, which will then be enforceable under Constitutional Law against any logging, looting, road building, land clearing or forest destruction.