Satellites Provide Clues to Ancient Mayan Civilization

[Judi Lynn]

Satellites Provide Clues to Ancient Mayan Civilization
Posted on: Thursday, 21 February 2008, 01:35 CST

Five years ago, archaeologists began working with NASA scientists to better understand the mysterious end of the ancient Mayan civilization that thrived for over 1,000 years in Central America and southern Mexico.

The work is paying off, according to archeologist William Saturno, who discovered ruins of hidden Mayan cities in the Guatemalan jungle with assistance from satellite images. The ruins consisted of five sprawling sites with hundreds of buildings. Saturno discovered the ruins through the use of a spy satellite that can see through clouds and forest to reveal differences in vegetation on the ground.

Saturno said the satellite images made it considerably easier to find ruins that were for hundreds of years hidden by dense jungle vegetation. "It was like shooting fish in a barrel," he told Reuters.

Saturno began by seeking satellite images to find a water source near his San Bartolo excavation camp, 32 miles from the closest town on inaccessible roads.

NASA provided Saturno a snapshot of solar radiation reflected off of the plants in the region, and amazingly Saturno saw patterns of discoloration in the satellite image that outlined some of the buildings he had already uncovered. With his GPS device, he pinpointed the location on a map of other nearby discolorations and discovered several areas with hidden Mayan architecture.

More:
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1264036/satellites_provide_clues_to_ancient_mayan_civilization/index.html