A Colorado State University team headed up by Christopher Fisher, a Mesoamerican archaeologist, along with Stephen Leisz, also of CSU’s Department of Anthropology, emerged from the jungle this week with the incredible news of the discovery of an unknown culture’s mysterious city, virtually untouched, and never before explored.
The archaeological team was funded by National Geographic, who sent a photographer and a writer along on the expedition into the densely carpeted rain forest. Mark Plotkin, the team’s ethnobotanist said, “This is clearly the most undisturbed rain forest in Central America, and the importance of this place can’t be overestimated.” But let’s get to the story of the lost civilization, and how it was found.
The 2012 aerial survey support the tall tales of earlier explorers
The story begins in 2012, when a team of explorers led by documentary filmmaker Steve Elkins, along with the Honduran government did an aerial survey of the rainforest using a light detection and ranging, or lidar, machine, capable of looking through the dense canopy of the Mosquitia rainforest to create a high-resolution map. Elkins thought he could map the entire area and find the “White City” he had been looking for.
The images Elkins downloaded from his aerial scan were absolutely amazing. There was clear evidence of three major clusters of larger structures, a plaza, ball court, and many house mounds. In mid-June of 2012, Elkins asked Chris Fisher to join the project. Fisher had already discovered a pre-Columbian settlement in Michoacán, Mexico, called Angamuco that dated to the 11th to the 16th century, and he had used the lidar scan in 2010 in Mexico, so he was familiar with the technology.
“I almost started crying when I saw the lidar images,” Fisher said. “I thought, Oh, my God, I’ve just got back ten or twelve years of my life. It would have taken me that long to survey those nine square kilometres.” What Fisher found on the lidar maps is what archaeologists refer to as a city. A city is defined as a site with many functions and clearly defined spaces. It is stratified socially, as well as being linked by roads and trails to farms and settlements outside.
Many people, including the Honduran government believe the images were of the ruins of the fabled “Ciudad Blanca,” or the “White City.” The city derives its name from the carved white stones, limestone walls, and paths it is said to contain. Some legends say it was a city of great wealth.
But the indigenous people, like the Pech, Tawahkas, and Miskitos talk about a city that cannot be entered, or if people enter, they cannot take anything out, or they will be punished. Another story says Ciudad Blanca is the hiding place of the gods who retreated from the Spanish invaders.
The unexplored and unknown civilization of the Mosquitia rainforest
National Geographic’s writer and photographer also had a great story to tell when the group emerged from the site, claiming the team did, indeed, find an “ancient and untouched city.” They also told of the extensive plazas, earthworks, mounds and an earthen pyramid” as well as “a remarkable cache” of over 50 stone sculptures. The site is estimated to be between 1,000 and 1,400 years old.
Fisher’s team says they no longer believe there is just one lost city like the “White City,” but perhaps many such lost cities in the rain forest. They now talk about a number of such cities, making up a lost civilization, and a lost culture, one which we don’t even have a name for yet.
In an email to the Huffington Post this week, Fisher said the discovery has enormous implications for our understanding of the region and its history. “The documentation of the site and associated features is very significant for Honduras and broader pre-Columbian societies in Latin America,” he said.
When asked what may have possibly led to the disappearance of the culture, Fisher said there could have been any number of reasons, from societal collapse, environmental changes or even conflict. But Fisher also pointed out another possible explanation, European-induced disease.
“Old World disease decimated native populations in the Americas starting with the fall of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan,” Fisher told Huffington Post. “These same diseases then raced person to person throughout the Americas with an incredible mortality rate. Like every other ancient culture in the Americas, the impact of these events would have had devastating consequences for the ancient peoples of the Mosquitia.”
A new threat puts the lost civilization at risk today
Deforestation for ranching is spread out all over the valley of the Mosquitia rain forest. Jungle has been cleared as close as 10 to 12 miles of the valley. The huge swaths of virgin rainforest have been cut and burned illegally to make way for cattle. This region has become one of the biggest beef-producing areas in Central America, supplying beef to fast-food franchises in the United States.
Virgilio Paredes Trapero, the director of the IHAH, under whose authority the expedition operated, was at the site for a number of days. He told National Geographic: “If we don’t do something right away, most of this forest and valley will be gone in eight years. The Honduran government is committed to protecting this area, but doesn’t have the money. We urgently need international support.”
The team documented the artifacts they found but left them unexcavated. Some were found in plain view, emerging from the ground. To protect the site from looters, the exact location of the lost city is not being revealed.
