Using sophisticated laser surveying technology, archaeologists have discovered a “lost city” in western Mexico that may have been home to as many buildings as Manhattan.

One of Angamuco’s ‘neighbourhoods’, revealed using light detection and ranging scanning [Credit: C Fisher]

A team of researchers, led by Colorado State University archaeologist Chris Fisher, was able to use LiDAR technology to determine that the ancient city of Angamuco had around 40,000 buildings spread over an area of 10 square miles. That’s roughly about the same number of buildings as Manhattan, but on a much smaller plot of land as the New York City borough is 22 square miles.

Fisher told Fox News that without the use of the LiDAR technology figuring out the number of buildings at the Angamuco site might have taken his entire career. But with just two flights using LiDAR, one in conjunction with the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping, his team was able to determine the size of the city and also find previously uncovered structures.

“I almost started crying,” Fisher said of seeing the LiDAR images of the city for the first time. “It was incredible to see these buildings in such clear definition.”

LiDAR uses a laser to measure distances to the Earth’s surface and can prove extremely valuable to study what is hidden in heavily forested areas. LiDAR is also used extensively in other applications, including autonomous cars where it allows vehicles to have a continuous 360 degrees view.

The city of Angamuco, which occupies a lava field on the eastern edge of the Lake Pátzcuaro basin [Credit: C Fisher]

Fisher is quick to point out that Angamuco is not technically a “lost city” as it was first discovered in 2007 and his team has been conducting research there since 2009.

“We don’t call it a lost city,” he said. “We call it an undocumented city.”

Despite this, the archaeologist is not downplaying the impact the discovery could have his field of research and science overall.

“This is another demonstration that this is the 21st Century and we still know so little about our world and there is still so much to be discovered,” Fisher said. “This city is in a highly trafficked area of Mexico and nobody knew that it was right there the whole time.”

Angamuco was built around 900 AD by the Purépecha, a civilization that was a rival of the Aztec empire in central Mexico, and reached its peak population of around 100,000 residents somewhere between 1000 and 1350 AD.

Examples of sunken plazas, patios, and related features in Angamuco [Credit: C Fisher]

"There are roughly a similar number of buildings but the size of the ancient buildings is obviously much smaller so the population density or number of people involved is not comparable," Fisher added.

At its height it was the largest city in western Mexico and much larger than the Purépecha imperial capital of Tzintzuntzan, although most likely not as densely populated.

“[Angamuco] was the real core of the empire,” Fisher said.

The city was built over a lava flow and has been hidden for centuries due to the dense forest and rugged terrain that surrounds it.

Colorado State University archeologist Chris Fisher has used the laser mapping technique  in Mexico and Honduras [Credit: Colorado State University]

Researchers have found a number of interesting features that make Angamuco different from other pre-Colombian cities in Mexico. The majority of the city’s temples and open plazas sit in eight places around the edges of Angamuco, rather than the center, which is more common.

The city also had numerous gardens and the Purépecha were known for their ability to divert water flow to grow crops and cultivate green spaces.

“We can learn a lot from the Purépecha in regards to modern city planning,” Fisher noted. “They had green spaces, they did things with water that we’re still trying to implement. These guys had it all figured out.”

Radio carbon dating of artifacts discovered at the site suggests that the city went through two separate periods of expansion before its eventual collapse preceding the European arrival in the Americas in the 15th Century.

Author: Andrew O'Reilly | Source: Fox News [February 20, 2018]

Archaeologists exploring the word’s biggest flooded cave in Mexico have discovered ancient human remains at least 9,000 years old and the bones of animals who roamed the earth during the last Ice Age.

Divers from the Great Mayan Aquifer project (L) exploring the Sac Actun underwater cave system, where Mayan and  Pleistocene bones and cultural artifacts have been found submerged, near Tulum, Mexico [Credit: GAM/INAH]

A group of divers recently connected two underwater caverns in eastern Mexico to reveal what is believed to be the biggest flooded cave on the planet, a discovery that could help shed new light on the ancient Maya civilization.

The Yucatan peninsula is studded with monumental relics of the Maya people, whose cities drew upon an extensive network of sinkholes linked to subterranean waters known as cenotes.

Remains of a mask in the Sac Actun underwater cave in Mexico's Quintana Roo state  [Credit: GAM/INAH]

Researchers say they found 248 cenotes at the 347-km (216-mile) cave system known as Sac Actun, near the beach resort of Tulum. Of the 200 archaeological sites they have discovered there, around 140 are Mayan.

Some cenotes acquired particular religious significance to the Maya, whose descendants continue to inhabit the region.

Remains of a Pleistocene bear from 2.5 million years ago, in the Sac Actun underwater cave  in Quintana Roo state, Mexico [Credit: GAM/INAH]

Apart from human remains, they also found bones of giant sloths, ancient elephants and extinct bears from the Pleistocene period, Mexico’s Culture Ministry said in a statement.

The cave’s discovery has rocked the archaeological world.

Researchers from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), say they have discovered  200 archaeological sites in the cave system [Credit: GAM/INAH]

“I think it’s overwhelming. Without a doubt it’s the most important underwater archaeological site in the world,” said Guillermo de Anda, researcher at Mexico’s National Anthropology and History Institute (INAH).

De Anda is also director of the Gran Acuifero Maya (GAM), a project dedicated to the study and preservation of the subterranean waters of the Yucatan peninsula.


According to the INAH, water levels rose 100 meters at the end of the Ice Age, flooding the cave system and leading to “ideal conditions for the preservation of the remains of extinct megafauna from the Pleistocene.”

The Pleistocene geological epoch, the most recent Ice Age, began 2.6 million years ago and ended around 11,700 years ago.

Source: Reuters [February 20, 2018]

Nearly a dozen human skeletons arranged in a circular formation have been discovered in an ancient Mexican pit in Tlalpan village. The surprising discovery was made by a group of archaeologists, who found the ancient burial site hiding four feet under a building that housed classrooms and dorms for priests.

Credit: Mauricio Marat, INAH

This site, located to the south of present-day Mexico City, had 10 human skeletons interlocked with each other in an extremely strange manner.

Credit: Mauricio Marat, INAH

Discovering centuries-old skeletons in a hidden burial site is not something new but these bodies, more than 2500 years old, were found lying on their sides and their arm bones were arranged in a spiral formation.

Credit: Mauricio Marat, INAH

The discovery is not only the first of its kind but also points to some kind of ritualistic burial where people could have been intertwined in death, according to a statement from the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

Credit: Mauricio Marat, INAH

"There was one individual over the other, for example: The head of the individual on the chest of the other, the hands of one individual under the other's back, the baby on the body of another," Jimena Rivera Jimena, who found the skeletons, told Mexican website Noticieros Televisa.

Credit: Mauricio Marat, INAH

So far, the group analysing the remains has found that two of them were females while one was a male. While they are still working on the discovery, it has been confirmed that most of them were adolescents, with two young ones, a three- to five-year-old child and a one-month-old baby.

Credit: Mauricio Marat, INAH

The exact cause of their death remains unclear but the archaeologists have noticed some deformities on their skull and teeth, which appeared intentional.

Credit: Mauricio Marat, INAH

Cranial deformities have previously been spotted in the remains of Mesoamericans in the past. It was done for a range of reasons such as for representing group affiliation or social status. Archaeologists also found ancient clay pots, ceramic spheres, stones and bowls inside the grave.


Tlalpan, the village linked to this burial, dates back to Mexico's pre-classical period (between 700BC to 200BC) and is believed to have thrived for about 500 years.

Source: The International Business Times [February 02, 2018]

For the first time, research has uncovered the origins of the earliest domestic turkeys in ancient Mexico.

Turkey illustration from the Codex Borgia, a pre-Hispanic document from Southern Mexico  [Credit: WikiCommons]

The study, published in Royal Society Open Science, also suggests turkeys weren't only prized for their meat -- with demand for the birds soaring with the Mayans and Aztecs because of their cultural significance in rituals and sacrifices.

In an international collaboration, researchers from the University of York, the Institute of Anthropology and History in Mexico, Washington State University and Simon Fraser University, studied the remains of 55 turkeys which lived between 300BC and 1500 AD and had been discovered in Mesoamerica- an area stretching from central Mexico to Northern Costa Rica within which pre-Columbian societies such as the Mayans and Aztecs flourished.

Analysing the ancient DNA of the birds, the researchers were able to confirm that modern European turkeys are descended from Mexican ancestors.

The team also measured the carbon isotope ratios in the turkey bones to reconstruct their diets. They found that the turkeys were gobbling crops cultivated by humans such as corn in increasing amounts, particularly in the centuries leading up to Spanish exploration, implying more intensive farming of the birds.

Interestingly, the gradual intensification of turkey farming does not directly correlate to an increase in human population size, a link you would expect to see if turkeys were reared simply as a source of nutrition.

Lead author of the paper and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York, Dr Aurélie Manin, said: "Turkey bones are rarely found in domestic refuse in Mesoamerica and most of the turkeys we studied had not been eaten -- some were found buried in temples and human graves, perhaps as companions for the afterlife. This fits with what we know about the iconography of the period, where we see turkeys depicted as gods and appearing as symbols in the calendar.

"The archaeological evidence suggests that meat from deer and rabbit was a more popular meal choice for people in pre-Columbian societies; turkeys are likely to have also been kept for their increasingly important symbolic and cultural role."

The fact that some of the turkey bones were uncovered outside of the natural range of the species also suggests that there was a thriving turkey trade in live birds along Mesoamerica's expanding trade routes.

Senior author of the paper from the Department of Archaeology at the University of York, Dr Camilla Speller, said: "Even though humans in this part of the word had been practicing agriculture for around 10,000 years, the turkey was the first animal, other than the dog, people in Mesoamerica started to take under their control.

"Turkeys would have made a good choice for domestication as there were not many other animals of suitable temperament available and turkeys would have been drawn to human settlements searching for scraps"

Some of the remains the researchers analysed were from a cousin of the common turkey -- the brightly plumed Ocellated turkey. In a strange twist the researchers found that the diets of these more ornate birds remained largely composed of wild plants and insects, suggesting that they were left to roam free and never domesticated.

"Why two biologically very similar species living in the same area were treated so differently remains a mystery," added Dr Speller.

Source: University of York [January 17, 2018]

A group of divers has connected two underwater caverns in eastern Mexico to reveal what is believed to be the biggest flooded cave on the planet, a discovery that could help shed new light on the ancient Maya civilization.

Scuba divers tour an unauthorised area of Sac Aktun underwater cave system as part of the Gran Acuifero Maya Project  near Tulum, in Quintana Roo state, Mexico [Credit: Gran Acuifero Maya Project/Reuters]

The Gran Acuifero Maya (GAM), a project dedicated to the study and preservation of the subterranean waters of the Yucatan peninsula, said the 347-km (216-mile) cave was identified after months of exploring a maze of underwater channels.

A scuba diver measure the length of Sac Aktun underwater cave system as part of the Gran Acuifero Maya Project  near Tulum, in Quintana Roo state, Mexico [Credit: Gran Acuifero Maya Project/Reuters]

Near the beach resort of Tulum, the group found that the cave system known as Sac Actun, once measured at 263 km, communicated with the 83-km Dos Ojos system, the GAM said in a statement. For that reason, Sac Actun now absorbs Dos Ojos.

A scuba diver measure the length of Sac Aktun underwater cave system as part of the Gran Acuifero Maya Project  near Tulum, in Quintana Roo state, Mexico [Credit: Gran Acuifero Maya Project/Reuters]

GAM director and underwater archaeologist Guillermo de Anda said the “amazing” find would help to understand the development of the rich culture of the region, which was dominated by the Maya civilization before the Spanish conquest.

A scuba diver looks at an animal skull in the Sac Aktun underwater cave system as part of the Gran Acuifero Maya Project  near Tulum, in Quintana Roo state, Mexico [Credit: Gran Acuifero Maya Project/Reuters]

“It allows us to appreciate much more clearly how the rituals, the pilgrimage sites and ultimately the great pre-Hispanic settlements that we know emerged,” he told Reuters.


The Yucatan peninsula is studded with monumental relics of the Maya people, whose cities drew upon an extensive network of sinkholes linked to subterranean waters known as cenotes.

Some cenotes acquired particular religious significance to the Maya, whose descendents continue to inhabit the region.

Source: Reuters [January 17, 2018]

An international team, led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Harvard University and the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), has used ancient DNA and a new data processing program to identify the possible cause of a colonial-era epidemic in Mexico. Many large-scale epidemics spread through the New World during the 16th century but their biological causes are difficult to determine based on symptoms described in contemporaneous historical accounts. In this study, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, scientists made use of new methods in ancient DNA research to identify Salmonella enterica Paratyphi C, a pathogen that causes enteric fever, in the skeletons of victims of the 1545-1550 cocoliztli epidemic in Mexico.

Excavated structure at the northern edge of the Grand Plaza at Teposcolula-Yucundaa. Architectural investigations  of the Grand Plaza resulted in the unexpected discovery of a large epidemic cemetery associated with the 1545-1550  cocoliztli epidemic. The cemetery was found to contain numerous mass burials, attesting to the catastrophic nature  of the epidemic [Credit: Christina Warinner/The Teposcolula-Yucundaa Archaeological Project]

After European contact, dozens of epidemics swept through the Americas, devastating New World populations. Although many first-hand accounts of these epidemics were recorded, in most cases it has been difficult, if not impossible, for researchers to definitively identify their causes based on historical descriptions of their symptoms alone. In some cases, for example, the symptoms caused by infection of different bacteria or viruses might be very similar, or the symptoms presented by certain diseases may have changed over the past 500 years. Consequently, researchers have hoped that advancements in ancient DNA analysis and other such approaches might provide a breakthrough in identifying the unknown causes of past epidemics.

The first direct evidence for one of the potential causes of the 1545-1550 cocoliztli epidemic

Of all the colonial New World epidemics, the unidentified 1545-1550 "cocoliztli" epidemic was among the most devastating, affecting large parts of Mexico and Guatemala, including the Mixtec town of Teposcolula-Yucundaa, located in Oaxaca, Mexico. Archaeological excavations at the site have unearthed the only known cemetery linked to this particular outbreak to date. "Given the historical and archaeological context of Teposcolula-Yucundaa, it provided us with a unique opportunity to address the question regarding the unknown microbial causes responsible for this epidemic," explains Åshild J. Vågene of the MPI-SHH, co-first author of the study. After the epidemic, the city of Teposcolula-Yucundaa was relocated from the top of a mountain to the neighboring valley, leaving the epidemic cemetery essentially untouched prior to recent archaeological excavations. These circumstances made Teposcolula-Yucundaa an ideal site to test a new method to search for direct evidence of the cause of the disease.

Overview of Teposcolula-Yucundaa, showing its location in the Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca, Mexico (A), and its  central administrative area (B), where excavations took place. (C) shows a drawing of individual 35, from which  an S. enterica genome was isolated. Credit: Åshild J. Vågene et al. Salmonella enterica genomes from victims  of a major 16th century epidemic in Mexico [Credit: Nature Ecology and Evolution]

The scientists analyzed ancient DNA extracted from 29 skeletons excavated at the site, and used a new computational program to characterize the ancient bacterial DNA. This technique allowed the scientists to search for all bacterial DNA present in their samples, without having to specify a particular target beforehand. This screening method revealed promising evidence of S. enterica DNA traces in 10 of their samples. Subsequent to this initial finding, a DNA enrichment method specifically designed for this study was applied. With this, the scientists were able to reconstruct full S. enterica genomes, and 10 of the individuals were found to contain a subspecies of S. enterica that causes enteric fever. This is the first time scientists have recovered molecular evidence of a microbial infection from this bacterium using ancient material from the New World. Enteric fever, of which typhoid fever is the best known variety today, causes high fevers, dehydration, and gastro-intestinal complications. Today, the disease is considered a major health threat around the world, having caused an estimated 27 million illnesses in the year 2000 alone. However, little is known about its past severity or worldwide prevalence.

A new tool in discovering past diseases

"A key result of this study is that we were successful in recovering information about a microbial infection that was circulating in this population, and we did not need to specify a particular target in advance," explains Alexander Herbig, also of the MPI-SHH and co-first author of the study. In the past, scientists usually targeted a particular pathogen or a small set of pathogens, for which they had prior indication.

Åshild J. Vågene conducting lab work at the Max Planck Institute for the Science  of Human History [Credit: Elizabeth Nelson]

"This new approach allows us to search broadly at the genome level for whatever may be present," added Johannes Krause, director of the Department of Archaeogenetics at the MPI-SHH and last author of the study. Kirsten Bos, also of the MPI-SHH, adds, "This is a critical advancement in the methods available to us as researchers of ancient diseases -- we can now look for the molecular traces of many infectious agents in the archaeological record, which is especially relevant to typical cases where the cause of an illness is not known a priori."

Source: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History [January 15, 2018]

Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego were part of an international team that for the first time used hydroacoustics as a method for comparing the abundance of fishes within and outside marine protected areas (MPAs).

Aggregation of spot-tailed grunts in the waters of Cabo Pulmo National Park [Credit: Octavio Aburto]

They found that the abundance of fishes was four times greater in Mexico's protected Cabo Pulmo National Park than in areas outside the park. Study authors said that hydroacoustics points the way toward a new, more cost-effective method of assessing fish populations.

"Managers and authorities in many countries spend a lot of financial resources assessing marine protected areas," said study co-author Octavio Aburto, a marine ecologist at Scripps. "The results of this paper demonstrate that it is possible to use acoustic technologies to generate information about marine resources inside MPAs in a faster and less expensive way, reducing the costs for governments in ocean conservation."

The study, "Hydroacoustics as a tool to examine the effects of Marine Protected Areas and habitat type on marine fish communities," appears in the journal Scientific Reports. The National Science Foundation, the Baja Coastal Institute, the International Community Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and The Helmsley Charitable Trust funded the research.

Cabo Pulmo has been the site of several studies by Scripps researchers since 2002. In 1995, local fishermen led the creation of a 71-square-kilometer (27-square-mile) undersea park to protect the waters they fished. The current MPA has been identified as the most successful in the world in terms of maintaining a sustainable fishery in which fleets operate just beyond the boundaries of the MPA. There, as in other parts of the world, surveys of coastal marine life are often performed through underwater visual censuses taken by scuba divers.

Researchers surveyed the waters of the MPA using sound waves produced by hydroacoustic equipment mounted on boats to image schools of fish and other marine life. They performed transects, scanning the water column in rows. They similarly surveyed waters outside the MPA. Fish density, total biomass, and the size of individuals were significantly greater inside the MPA. In comparison with waters outside the MPA, animal abundance in reefs was as much as 50 times higher, "highlighting the importance of both habitat complexity and protection from fishing for fish populations."

"Both hydroacoustics and marine protected areas are well-established but it is novel to use the former to assess the latter," said study lead author Jack Egerton, now a researcher at the University of Texas who performed the work while at Bangor University in Wales, UK. "Through this, we have been able to see how important the Cabo Pulmo National Park is for fish populations in the area."

Although acoustic surveys can be done much faster than underwater visual censuses, the researchers acknowledge that fish sizes can only be approximated and the method doesn't provide species-specific information. However, they concluded that the hydroacoustic method could still be useful in gauging the benefit of MPAs, as conventional survey methods are often prohibitively expensive and can be limited by issues such as diver depth limits and water clarity.

Source: University of California San Diego [January 15, 2018]

Mexico’s most prominent human rights lawyers, journalists and anti-corruption activists have been targeted by advanced spyware sold to the Mexican government on the condition that it be used only to investigate criminals and terrorists.

The targets include lawyers looking into the mass disappearance of 43 students, a highly respected academic who helped write anti-corruption legislation, two of Mexico’s most influential journalists and an American representing victims of sexual abuse by the police. The spying even swept up family members, including a teenage boy.

Since 2011, at least three Mexican federal agencies have purchased about $80 million worth of spyware created by an Israeli cyberarms manufacturer. The software, known as Pegasus, infiltrates smartphones to monitor every detail of a person’s cellular life — calls, texts, email, contacts and calendars. It can even use the microphone and camera on phones for surveillance, turning a target’s smartphone into a personal bug.

The company that makes the software, the NSO Group, says it sells the tool exclusively to governments, with an explicit agreement that it be used only to battle terrorists or the drug cartels and criminal groups that have long kidnapped and killed Mexicans.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/world/americas/mexico-spyware-anticrime.html

The Department of Homeland Security issued a sweeping set of orders Tuesday that implement President Trump's plan to increase immigration enforcement, placing the vast majority of the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants at risk of deportation.

The memos instruct all agents — including Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — to identify, capture and quickly deport every undocumented immigrant they encounter.

The memos require undocumented immigrants caught entering the country to be placed in detention until their cases are resolved, increase the ability of local police to help in immigration enforcement, call for the hiring of 10,000 more immigration agents and allow planning to begin on an expansion of the border wall between the United States and Mexico.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/02/21/donald-trump-homeland-security-issues-deportation-memos/98190192/

INEXPLICATA contributing editor Ana Luisa Cid reports: "There was a spectacular sighting in my locality. A large luminous object seemingly hovered over the tops of buildings as it changed colors.

By Inexplicata 3-14-16

It then approached the air corridor as an airliner flew past. My sister Beatriz and our friend Carlos Rodriguez took a video using a cellphone. I am currently conducting an investigation with Ing. Villafuerte and the airport control tower (Centro México) and will upload the video shortly."

NOTE: No link to the video is available at this moment.
Read more »

A Narco News 10th Anniversary Flashback..

The southernmost State of Mexico on the Guatemala border
Where the indigenous Zapatista rebels are drug-free...
Where the Army and Police run the cocaine trade...
...and are protected by the US and Mexican governments

10-Part Series, from Narco News Issue #2, June 5, 2000.
The Narco-State of Chiapas»»

Narco News Bulletin »»

The U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy … says that more than 60 percent of the profits reaped by Mexican drug lords are derived from the exportation and sale of cannabis to the American market. … (By comparison, only about 28 percent of their profits are derived from the distribution of cocaine, and less than 1 percent comes from trafficking methamphetamine.) … Government officials estimate that approximately half the marijuana consumed in the United States originates from outside its borders, and they have identified Mexico as far and away America’s largest pot provider.

If the Obama administration wishes to once and for all reduce this unprecedented wave of Mexican drug-gang violence, then it needs to remove the drug lord’s primary source of income — and that’s marijuana trafficking.

Read full article »»

Wachovia bank executives have admitted that the banking giant laundered millions of dollars for Mexican drug lords between 2003 and 2008, prosecutors announced in Miami this afternoon.

The feds built a case against Wachovia around the bank's relationship with Mexican exchange banks called CDCs (or casas de cambio).

Wachovia execs knew as early as 1996 that the Mexican CDCs were hot spots for drug money but kept doing business with them anyway.

Read full article »»

A US-owned company, Carroll Farms, has been accused of dumping contaminated pig waste and fecal matter, causing a “strange flu-like outbreak,” spreading across many parts of Mexico. (NAFTA strikes again!)

The recent swine flu outbreak taking place in Mexico may have originated at a US-owned pig-breeding farm by the name of Granjas Carroll (aka Carroll Farms), which is owned, in part by the Smithfield Food Company. Smithfield also promotes the consumption of genetically-altered foods, and even owns certain genetic lines of pork breeding. On April 12 of 2009, before the swine flu outbreak was covered by mainstream media outlets, the Mexican newspaper La Jornada broke a story on how Carroll Farms was polluting the drinking water near the towns of La Gloria and Perote, in Veracruz.

Read full article »»