LiDAR fires hundreds of thousands of laser pulses towards the ground per second from instruments fitted onto aircraft, such as drones and helicopters. This enables the creation of detailed 3D maps that reveal the topography of the land and any ancient man-made features that are not normally visible with human eyes.
"It's really one of those things where you don't always expect to find a lost city, but then sometimes if everything lines up just right, that can happen," Lin told"We were in a part of Colombia where there is a dramatic change of elevation. It goes from basically sea level, to the height of the base camp of Mount Everest within not that many miles," he said.
Ciudad Perdida is a spectacular feat of engineering in its own right boasting an in-built gutter system which, to this day, protects the infrastructure from the vast amounts of rain that the region receives—around 12 feet every year. But at the entrance to the city lies a clue indicating that there may be much more hidden beneath the thick forest canopy of the surrounding area than meets the eye.
After identifying these plateaus, the crew decided to investigate one particularly promising site on foot, accompanied by a Colombian military escort. This was no easy task requiring a grueling 32-mile round-trip trek through the steep, dense forest. Lin suggests that this finding is just the beginning. In fact, the researchers have now identified a further six sites which could be the locations of ancient settlements, indicating that the Tairona's reach across this region extended further than previously thought.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: Forbes - 🏆 394. / 53 Read more »
Source: Women's Health - 🏆 475. / 51 Read more »
Source: WSJ - 🏆 98. / 63 Read more »
Source: CNN - 🏆 4. / 95 Read more »
Source: POPSUGARMoms - 🏆 117. / 63 Read more »
Source: BusinessInsider - 🏆 729. / 51 Read more »