The “epicenter” of Zapotec Guiengola, with the surrounding area being revealed by LiDAR as a vast walled city. Source: Cambridge University Press.

Mexican Zapotec “Fortress” Revealed by LiDAR as a Large City

A new study of a Zapotec site in Mexico may have finally revealed its purpose. A team using LiDAR to analyze the complex have revealed a large post-classical city. The site of Guiengola is well known to Mexican archaeologists. Built by the Zapotec, an indigenous pre-Columbian culture who lived in the Valley of Oaxaca in