[Aztlan] Maya ruins found from space photo

[Jorge Pérez de Lara]

Listeros,

I'm surprised nobody has recognized the picture posted by Mike Ruggeri.
It is central Tikal, which is certainly, explored consolidated and 
studied. The Great Plaza, the Northern and Central Acropolises can be 
very clearly made out.

Bill Saturno, the head archaeologist at San Bartolo, is in fact working
on an imaging project with NASA. They appear to have found an
association between a certain "color signature" in the vegetation, in
the form of a certain discoloration, in many areas where there are
remnants of buildings. This could be tentatively explained by the
concentration of certain, man-introduced materials ( the run-off of lime
plaster from buildings and plazas?) into the soil, which appears to have
affected regrowth after the cities were abandoned. Saturno talked about
some examples of this at the Texas Meetings this year but, promising as
it seems for the purpose of locating "lost" archaeological sites in the
jungle, this research is still in its beginning stages.

Jorge Pérez de Lara