Experts have estimated that about 50,000 people used to live in Calakmul, although they continued to govern others over 90 miles away.
According to archeologists Dr. Kathryn Reese-Taylor and Adriana Velazquez Morlet, this uncovering further solidifies Calakmul's place as at least one of the largest cities in America during the height of Mayan rule, per Mirror. "These large residential complexes are grouped around numerous temples, sanctuaries and possible markets, an architectural density that places Calakmul as one of the largest cities in America, around 700 AD," they noted.
The two experts continued that over 60 individual structures could bee seen within the underground settlement."The magnitude of the landscape modification may have equalled the scale of the urban population, since all the available land was covered with canals of water, terraces, walls and dams, to provide maximum food security and sufficient water for the inhabitants of the city," they said.
How are we only now finding this? For reals.