There is a newly discovered Maya city that was discovered by Luke Auld-Thomas, a PhD candidate in Archaeology at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. His professor Marcello Caunto is a co-author who was involved in this research. It all started as part of a Lidar survey to find out if the Maya had settled in the area. A Lidar survey is a map created by firing thousands of laser pulses from a plane to get a detailed look at the terrain.
Auld-Thomas and other colleagues decided to name the city Valeriana because of a lagoon that is named Valeriana near the site. It is located in the Mexican state of Campeche. Since no one has been there for a long time, there are no pictures of this city. It is mind blowing to think that such a city exists only from a 15-minute hike from a major road. It is believed to be the second densest Maya city after Calakmul. As the archaeologists say, “It is hidden in plain sight.” What stands out the most is that two large buildings appear to be temples with plazas. There is a ball court for an old game the Maya used to play. There are a lot of homes too. The discoverers believe the city was abandoned due to climate change. Mr. Auld-Thomas decided to share with the whole world that there is a possibility of treasures like jade masks hidden in the temple pyramids that will only lead to no good.
Mr. David Collins said, “I think after giving it some thought the government has to secure the site then they could of announced it so people don’t go out there and just loot it.”
There are a lot of sites that are waiting to be explored. Archeologists can’t excavate all of them at the same time. So some sites are not explored until much later. This gives time for thieves to go and steal some artifacts. However, it is a positive discovery that opens up more opportunities to learn about the past. It is incredible to think that we still don’t know the world we live in.
Bolton C. ‘25 says “I think a lot of people don’t go off the beaten path. That could lead to us not finding and learning new things.”
Yet we keep on exploring space instead of the place we live in. This Maya city shows that there is a lot in this world that we don’t know exists. There is still a big mystery with Valeriana though what was its original name?