“Lidar is revolutionizing archeology, allowing researchers to peer through thick rainforest canopies without setting foot in the jungle. The technology has helped identify hundreds of thousands of structures in Mayan cities across southern Mexico and northern Guatemala. Lidar has instead uncovered a vast, interconnected network of cities, roads, and infrastructure, suggesting an advanced society with extensive trade routes and economic cooperation. Lidar also revealed parts of an extensive network of elevated highways—massive causeways built centuries before modern roads. Some stretched up to 131 feet wide, connecting cities across vast distances…The discoveries are reshaping our understanding of the Maya civilization.