Sprawling Lost City From 600 Years Ago RevealedAn archaeologist has revealed a sprawling, lost 15th-century city in southern Mexico at a site that was long thought to have been merely a garrison for soldiers.
Guiengola, which was built by the indigenous Zapotec people, is located in the south of the state of Oaxaca, some 17 miles from the pacific coastline.
Pedro Guillermo Ramón Celis of McGill University in Montreal, Canada revealed the true extent of forest-covered Guiengola using a laser-based scanning technique, flying over the site in an airplane. His study has revealed that the fortified city covers a whopping 360 hectares and sported more than 1,100 structures—including temples, ball courts and different neighborhoods for the commoners and the elite—and 2.5 miles of walls.
According to Ramón Celis, evidence suggests that the fortified city was abandoned just before the Spanish arrived in Mexico—with its residents relocating to nearby Tehuantepec, a small city where their descendants still live.
By the end of the 15th century, Ramón Celis told Newsweek, the Zapotecs had managed to both gain almost total control of Oaxaca's Pacific Coat, and had resisted the aggressive Late Postclassic expansion of the Mexicas (the Aztec Empire).
"This was especially remarkable following a lengthy, seven-month siege, led by Aztec emperor Ahuizotl, at Guiengola," he noted.
"After securing this region of southern Mesoamerica, the Zapotecs no longer needed to inhabit this city.
"While living in a mountainous area had its advantages, access to running water and more fertile land were likely more important for a large population, and the site of Tehuantepec had this advantage over Guiengola."
This is only the start of the analysis—with the archaeologist hoping that future studies of Guiengola will provide fresh insights in the Zapotecs' social and political organization, which may shine a light on their relationship with the Spanish.
"Currently, I'm planning my fourth field season, during which my team and I will cover all the approximately 1,170 structures in the LiDAR scan, which will take us a few years," Ramón Celis said, stressing that this work will involve further remote sensing, rather than physical excavations of the site.
https://www.newsweek.com/lost-city-mexico-guiengola-zapotec-forest-lidar-archaeology-2023494
<Anyone else kind of not like this kind of studies? I can't help but think looters will be rushing to places like Guiengola or that recently discovered Maya city to look for valuables.