'Game Changer': Maya Cities Unearthed In Guatemala Forest Using Lasers : The Two
Thomas Garrison
"This is a game changer " says  Thomas Garrison  an archaeologist at Ithaca College who is one of the leaders of the project . It changes "the base level at which we do Maya archaeology."
The data reveals that the area was three or four times more densely populated than originally thought. "I mean  we're talking about millions of people  conservatively " says  Garrison . "Probably more than 10 million people."
The researchers fired LiDAR technology  short for "Light Detection and Ranging " down at the dense forest from an airplane. This research was organized by the PACUNAM LiDAR Initiative  and  Garrison  says the area's size is "more than double any other survey that's been done with this technology."
"As it flies the laser pulses hundreds of thousands of times per second "  Garrison  adds. "And every time one of those lasers hits a point of resistance it stops and sends back a measurement to the plane."
toggle caption PACUNAM/Thomas Garrison
LiDAR allows scientists to accomplish years or even decades worth of mapping in a single afternoon. For example   Garrison  says  he  was part of a team that worked for some eight years to map less than a square mile at a site called El Zotz. The plane using LiDAR took data for 67 square miles in a matter of hours.
"It's very humbling " says  Garrison . "For those of us that spent our lives mapping and slogging around this area ... you just sort of have to bow before the LiDAR and accept the fact that it's better than you are."
The team surveyed 10 separate areas. It took months to process the data. As the picture became clearer   Garrison  said  he  would sent emails to  his  colleagues expressing surprise at the magnitude.
 He  recalls seeing an initial image of one area in northern Guatemala. "I saw this image and I said  the whole area is covered in Maya settlement. You won't believe it "  he  adds. "And then once we got the actual data and saw the whole scope of it. We said  'Wow  we're going to be able to really do something with this.'"
"This is a game changer " says  Thomas Garrison  an archaeologist at Ithaca College who is one of the leaders of the project . It changes "the base level at which we do Maya archaeology."
The data reveals that the area was three or four times more densely populated than originally thought. "I mean  we're talking about millions of people  conservatively " says   [TGT]  . "Probably more than 10 million people."
The researchers fired LiDAR technology  short for "Light Detection and Ranging " down at the dense forest from an airplane. This research was organized by the PACUNAM LiDAR Initiative  and   [TGT] says the area's size is "more than double any other survey that's been done with this technology."
"As it flies the laser pulses hundreds of thousands of times per second "   [TGT] adds. "And every time one of those lasers hits a point of resistance it stops and sends back a measurement to the plane."
toggle caption PACUNAM/Thomas Garrison
LiDAR allows scientists to accomplish years or even decades worth of mapping in a single afternoon. For example    [TGT] says   [TGT]   was part of a team that worked for some eight years to map less than a square mile at a site called El Zotz. The plane using LiDAR took data for 67 square miles in a matter of hours.
"It's very humbling " says   [TGT]  . "For those of us that spent our lives mapping and slogging around this area ... you just sort of have to bow before the LiDAR and accept the fact that it's better than you are."
The team surveyed 10 separate areas. It took months to process the data. As the picture became clearer    [TGT] said   [TGT]   would sent emails to   [TGT]   colleagues expressing surprise at the magnitude.
  [TGT]   recalls seeing an initial image of one area in northern Guatemala. "I saw this image and I said  the whole area is covered in Maya settlement. You won't believe it "  he  adds. "And then once we got the actual data and saw the whole scope of it. We said  'Wow  we're going to be able to really do something with this.'"