Archaeology breakthrough as researchers discover ancient Mexican city ‘frozen in time’

A fascinating discovery in southern has revealed the extent of Guiengola, a long-lost 15th-century city once thought to be merely a military garrison.

Located in the state of Oaxaca, around 17 miles from the Pacific coast, the city was built by the Zapotec civilization, one of the most influential .

Pedro Guillermo Ramón Celis, an archaeologist from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, uncovered the sprawling ruins of Guiengola using advanced LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology.

This laser-based scanning technique allowed Ramón Celis to map the city in unprecedented detail, providing new insights into the city’s true scale and significance.

Guiengola, as Ramón Celis revealed, covers 360 hectares (around 890 acres) and features over 1,100 structures including temples, ball courts, residential neighborhoods, and imposing defensive walls that stretch over 2.5 miles.

The findings suggest that the site was far more than a military outpost—it was a thriving, fortified urban center.

Remarkably well-preserved for a city that’s over 500 years old, the site has structures that remain standing today.

“You can walk through the jungle and still see houses with intact doors, hallways, and even fences dividing one dwelling from another,” Ramón Celis said in a statement announcing his findings.

This level of preservation offers a rare glimpse into the past, enabling the study of a civilization largely untouched by modern transformations .

The Zapotecs, who built Guiengola, were skilled engineers and strategists. According to Ramón Celis, the city likely served as a strategic defense point, especially during the turbulent Late Postclassic period.

One key moment in the city’s history was a seven-month siege led by Ahuizotl, the Aztec emperor, who sought to expand the reach of the Mexica (Aztec) Empire into the region. The Zapotecs, however, successfully resisted, marking a significant victory for the people of Oaxaca. This resistance helped them gain control over the region’s Pacific coast, further solidifying their dominance.

However, by the end of the 15th century, the Zapotecs had effectively secured their position in southern Mesoamerica and began relocating from the mountainous, fortified Guiengola to the Tehuantepec Valley. The area, located about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the site, offered more fertile land and access to fresh water, making it more suitable for sustaining large populations. The people who settled in Tehuantepec are the direct descendants of the Guiengola inhabitants.

“Guiengola is like a city frozen in time,” Ramón Celis noted. “It offers a snapshot of Zapotec life before the cultural upheavals brought by the Spanish arrived in the early 16th century.”

The site’s discovery has personal significance for Ramón Celis. “My mother’s family is from the Tehuantepec region, and I remember hearing stories about Guiengola when I was young. That connection is part of why I pursued a career in archaeology,” he said.

that enabled Ramón Celis to uncover the full scale of Guiengola. Unlike traditional archaeological methods, which require walking the dense jungle terrain to identify structures, LiDAR uses laser pulses to map the landscape and reveal structures hidden beneath the forest canopy.

“We could scan the area in just a couple of hours, which would have taken years of on-the-ground exploration before LiDAR technology,” Ramón Celis explained.

The scans revealed not only the extent of the city but also clues to its social and political organisation. For example, the large ball courts and temples were located near elite neighborhoods, signifying their central role in ceremonial and religious life. The layout suggests a sophisticated urban planning strategy designed to separate the elite from the common people.

While the initial survey has provided important insights into Guiengola’s structure and society, Ramón Celis believes this is just the beginning. His team is in the midst of their fourth field season and plans to examine all of the 1,170 structures identified in the LiDAR scan over the next several years.

This will involve further analysis using remote sensing technologies, rather than traditional excavation methods. “By doing this, I hope to better understand how the Zapotecs maintained ties to their homeland and how their society developed its identity, particularly in relation to their later interactions with the Spanish,” he said.

This ongoing research will continue to shed light on the complexities of Zapotec civilization and its role in the broader history of Mesoamerica, offering scholars and historians valuable insights into the region’s ancient past.