Unveiled Secrets: The Maya Civilization’s True Population Was Far Beyond What We Ever Imagined — 16 Million Strong!
Ever wonder how big the Maya civilization really was? Turns out, we were all seriously underestimating these ancient urban planners—kind of like thinking a tiny coffee shop is just a hole-in-the-wall until you realize it’s actually a bustling metropolis disguised as espresso heaven. Thanks to some fancy LiDAR scans (that’s like a high-tech laser peek beneath the jungle canopy), researchers have uncovered that when the Maya were at their peak from 600 to 900 C.E., their population might have soared to between 9.6 and 16.5 million people. Yup, that’s a whopping 45 percent jump over what we thought just a few years ago. And as if that’s not enough, these urban centers weren’t just sprawling—they were highly organized, with resource management and social systems that’d make modern cities blush. Makes you wonder—how did they manage to keep such a big crowd fed, organized, and entertained without a single Starbucks or Google? Dive into the jungle of facts and figures and prepare to have your old assumptions about the Maya civilization completely reshuffled. LEARN MORE.
Researchers used LiDAR scans of Maya urban centers to conclude that, when the population was at its peak circa 600-900 C.E., this civilization was much larger than experts once thought.
Wikimedia CommonsNew estimates place the Maya population between 9.6 and 16.5 million during its peak years from roughly 600 to 900 C.E.
Because so much remains to be discovered about the Maya civilization, it has long been difficult for researchers to accurately estimate its population.
In 2018, experts suggested that the population of the Maya may have been around 11 million. However, a new study from Tulane University archaeologists, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, claims that the Maya population could have been closer to 16 million, representing a roughly 45 percent increase over previous estimates.
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