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LiDAR survey 'finds' lost Honduran 'city of gold'
Archaeology News Network ^ | May 14, 2013 | Tim Walker

Posted on 05/15/2013 11:15:53 PM PDT by OddLane

The Google Map of eastern Honduras is almost blank. A vast and virtually unexplored rainforest region known as the Mosquitia covers around 32,000 square miles, home to dense jungle, hostile terrain and the terrifying-sounding jumping viper. Legend has it that somewhere beneath the forest canopy lies the ancient city of Ciudad Blanca – and now archaeologists think they may have found it.

Tomorrow in Cancun, Mexico, an interdisciplinary group of scientists from fields including archaeology, anthropology and geology will appear at the American Geophysical Union’s annual conference to present the technology that has allowed them to discover a “lost world” in the Honduran interior. The team photographed the ground using new technology known as airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR). They found what appears to be a network of plazas and pyramids, hidden for hundreds of years.

The legend of Ciudad Blanca (“The White City”) has captivated Western explorers ever since the Conquistador Hernan Cortes mentioned it in a letter to Spanish Emperor Charles V in 1526. Cortes never found the city, nor the gold it was said to contain, and the inhospitable region remained unconquered by the Europeans. In 1940, an American adventurer, Theodore Morde, emerged from the jungle claiming to have a found a “lost city of the monkey god”, where the local indigenous people worshipped huge ape sculptures.

He was said to have been tipped off about the ruins by Charles Lindbergh, the first solo aviator to cross the Atlantic, who glimpsed “an amazing ancient metropolis” when he was flying above the forest. Morde was killed in a car accident before he could reveal its location.

(Excerpt) Read more at archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science
KEYWORDS: archeology; belize; centralamerica; charleslindbergh; cityofthemonkeygod; ciudadblanca; cuidadblanca; elsalvador; godsgravesglyphs; guatemala; hernancortes; honduras; johnlloydsturges; laciudadblanca; lacuidadblanca; lidar; lindbergh; mexico; mosquitia; remoteimaging; rioplatano; theodoremorde; thewhitecity; whitecity
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To: OddLane; Beowulf9; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; ...

 GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach
Thanks OddLane and Beowulf9.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.


21 posted on 05/18/2013 12:42:29 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Meanwhile, in middle America about 1100, Cahokia had a population near 25,000, larger thn London or some other Euro cities at the time

It is still there and you can go see.

BTW, when the Spanish came North out of Mexico seeking El Dorado, they were disappointed by the Pueblos they found. They were told the big city is further east. They were undoubtedly being led to Cahokia, but maybe 200 years too late. Somewhere in the vastness of Kansas they gave up. The expedition murdered their Indian guide and returned to Mexico.


22 posted on 05/18/2013 5:31:59 AM PDT by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 .....History is a process, not an event)
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Comment #23 Removed by Moderator

To: SunkenCiv; OddLane




Please Support FR



24 posted on 05/18/2013 10:12:04 AM PDT by Lady Jag (If you can't make them see the light, let them feel the heat. - Reagan)
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