Showing posts with label belize. Show all posts
Showing posts with label belize. Show all posts

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Mapping the Invisible in the Jungles of Belize

Jungle. Ancient civilization. Lasers. Cool:

Photobucket

Says the NY Times:
A small aircraft flying back and forth above the ancient Maya city of Caracol, in Belize, used a laser to penetrate the dense forest canopy.

Viewed in three dimensions, the data revealed new ruins, causeways and agricultural terraces of the sprawling city. A detail [of a detail] of Caracol's city center is shown here.
Interesting stuff, but a little disheartening in a sense. The age of physical human discovery is truly over; nowadays all we get is laser-guided dispatches from the global panopticon.