Mexican Zapotec “Fortress” Revealed by LiDAR as a Large City - All That History

Mexican Zapotec “Fortress” Revealed by LiDAR as a Large City - All That History

The Zapotec “fortress” of Guiengola was dismissed by colonial surveyors as a small garrison. But a new LiDAR survey has found there is a lot more here.

A recent study with LiDAR technology has revealed unpublished details of Guiengola, a fortified city of the 15th century belonging to the Zapotec civilization in the current state of Oaxaca, Mexico. This finding has made it possible to accurately map a vast city with complex defensive structures and a well-planned urban layout. What is the LiDAR and how did it help in the discovery? LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is a remote detection techn…