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LiveScience
LiveScience
Owen Jarus

Lasers reveal 15th-century fortified Zapotec city in Mexico

A lidar map showing the location of various archaeological sites.

Lasers shot from an aircraft have revealed the remains of a 600-year-old Zapotec city in southern Mexico, a new study finds.

The technique, known as lidar (light detection and ranging), works by having a machine aboard an aircraft send millions of laser pulses toward the ground and then calculating how long it takes for the lasers to bounce back. With this information, scientists can map the topography of the land.

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