In the vicinity of Machu Picchu, the ancient Inca city in the Peruvian Andes, archaeologists have identified some two and a half kilometres of roads, along with terraces and platforms that had until now been hidden beneath dense tropical vegetation. The discovery was made by a research team from the Centre for Andean Studies at the University of Warsaw, working together with several scientific institutions in Peru.
To map the ancient structures beneath the jungle canopy, the scientists used lidar, an aerial laser-scanning technology. Although Machu Picchu has been on UNESCO's World Heritage List since 1983 and has been studied in detail for more than a century, previously unknown buildings continue to turn up in its surroundings.
According to Mariusz Zółkowski, the find adds to and substantially revises our understanding of how the entire complex of the ancient city functioned.
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