A team of archaeologists has discovered more than 6,600 previously unknown structures linked to the Maya civilization in southeast Mexico, including a hidden city named "Valeriana" with impressive pyramids.

Archaeologists have found thousands of Maya structures and a lost city they named Valeriana in Mexico by using laser mapping technology, according to a new study.

Archeologists in Mexico have discovered a huge, lost Mayan city, which they named Valeriana, hidden deep in the southern jungle of Campeche.

In recent years, LiDAR laser scanning has allowed researchers to analyze large swaths of densely forested land in Mexico in their search for undiscovered ancient settlements and structures, as opposed to conducting the time-consuming, on-the-ground assessments previously required for archaeological surveys.

Lidar technology uncovers ancient Maya city Valeriana in Yucatán Peninsula, revealing thousands of structures.

East of the town of Dos Lagunas, past the major highway cutting through Mexico’s south, the forest rises up in a dense wall of grasping roots, spindly branches and veils of brown and green. Beyond it lies the ruins of an old Maya city,

WIRED spoke with the researchers responsible for the discovery of Valeriana, a lost Maya city in the middle of the jungle of Campeche.

Tulane researchers uncovered over 6,500 Maya structures in Mexico using lidar, revealing a complex settlement landscape and challenging previous assumptions about the Maya civilization’s urban and rural distribution.