Pictures: Massive Maya City Revealed by Lasers
Airborne lasers have "stripped" away thick rain forests to reveal new images of an ancient Maya metropolis that's far bigger than anyone had thought. An April 2009 flyover of the Maya city of Caracol used Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) equipment-which bounces laser beams off the ground-to help scientists construct a 3-D map of the settlement in western Belize. The survey revealed previously unknown buildings, roads, and other features in just four days, scientists announced earlier this month at the International Symposium on Archaeometry in Tampa, Florida. University of Central Florida anthropologists Arlen and Diane Chase have spent decades hacking through the tangled undergrowth that has engulfed the powerful city-which thrived between A.D. 550 and 900. So far they've uncovered only a tiny fraction of the ruins.

Maya Rise & Fall
Interactive map: Explore 15 key Mayan sites that archaeologists and historians are using to piece together the story of this once great civilization.