Imagine walking through dense forest one minute and then stumbling across the ruins of a once thriving city. Even a person who has just been traversing through a dangerous and malaria- ridden forest would have to take pause to stare open-mouthed at the sight before them: stone remenants of walls, buildings, plazas, altars, and more. To archaelogist, Chris Fisher, however, this was not a sudden find. In February of 2015, he had finally found what is believed to be the infamous “White City” or somtimes known as the “Lost City of the Monkey God.” After previous attempts of finding the city had failed, he and his team used technology, known as lidar images, to map out the area of an ancient city in Central Mexico. National Geographic published an article outlining the expedition in its entirety earlier this year.
There is an area known as the Mosquitta Region in Honduras and Nicuarga where the “White City” was rumored to be. Not much is known about this city; before the find, there were only myths about it and accounts of wealthy cities left behind by Hernán Cortés.
Now, only a little bit of time into the expedition to recover what is left of the city, many sculptures and stonework have been found. Stone jars, thrones, items with intricate drawings, and scultpures that can barely be seen because their trunks are below ground, have been excavated. Excavaters are getting excited because there is evidence they may be able to find royal burial tombs and there are sculptures of part-human and part-animal creatures. These sculptures could give possible incite into these people’s culture and maybe religion.
While the world waits to hear more about this mysterious city, excavaters are uncovering new information and doing their best to unearth this society’s secrets. Did these people have the power to rival the great Mayas? What caused their destruction? What were their traditions, lives, and religion like? For as much as the human race has explored the Earth, it is remarkable civilizations are still be discovered. It leads a person to wonder what is out there and what could lie buried beneath our feet?