Maya 'Snake King' structures found

A vast, hidden network of cities, fortifications, farms and highways has been found hidden beneath the trees of the remote Guatemalan jungle. Scans of the area exposed 60,000 previously unknown structures, including a seven-story pyramid. Using specialist technology called LiDAR scientists were able to strip away the tree canopy from aerial images. Archaeologists have assumed that Maya cities were isolated and self-sufficient, but this discovery provides evidence for a complex, interconnected society. Earlier population estimates of the Maya have never been more than two million, but the researchers behind the LiDAR initiative that made the discovery suggest a figure of 20 million.