A laser study of the Calakmul site in southern Mexico provides new evidence that the ancient metropolis was the busiest Mayan urban center during the classic period of this civilization, about 1,300 years ago, Reuters reports, Agerpres reads.

The new LIDAR survey announced Wednesday by the Mexican Institute of Antiquities INAH was conducted in the region of the jungle-covered ruins of the once mighty city of Calakmul, located in the central lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula near the border with Guatemala.

Calakmul flourished during the classic period of the Mayan civilization, between 250 and 900 CE, the city having massive pyramids, palace complexes and temples, only a small part of which have been excavated.

Kathryn Reese-Taylor, a University of Calgary researcher affiliated with the LIDAR study, explained in a webcast that new maps of the site reveal numerous previously unknown buildings that demonstrate that the city of Calakmul was more densely populated than even Tikal, the ancient Mayan metropolis located in north of the state of Guatemala and considered for a long time the largest urban center of this civilization.

Agerpres