Ruins of Lost City Hide Deep Within Dense Honduras Rain Forest

Deep within the dense rainforests of Honduras, trees cloak the archaeological remains of an ancient city, abandoned and crumbling. Now, researchers have found a way to penetrate that dense cloak and learn a little bit more about the city that once flourished in Central America.

High above the forest canopy, scientists soared in a slow, low altitude aircraft. As they flew, they bombarded swaths of dense jungle with billions of lasers pulses. This technique is known as lidar, or light detection and ranging. With it, the researchers were able to image what appeared to be extensive ruins, including cities, villages, roads, canals, ceremonial sites, terraced agricultural land and more.

"We use lidar to pinpoint where human structures are by looking for linear shapes and rectangles," said Colorado State University researcher Stephen Leisz, who uses lidar in Mexico, in a statement. "Nature doesn't work in straight lines."

In fact, this particular civilization could be the fabled Ciudad Blanca, which translated means "The White City." This civilization has been a legend since the time of the conquistadors when Hernán Cortés wrote a letter to the Spanish Emperor at the time, Charles V. Within this letter, he detailed a city filled with gold that lay in an unknown location in what is now the Mosquitia region of Hondoras. While conquistadors searched for this city throughout the 1500s, though, they were never able to find it, and thus the civilization itself passed into legend.

It's unlikely that this particular civilization, if it is La Cuidad Blanca, would be filled with gold. However, it could provide precious clues to the history of the region for archaeologists. Already, the researchers have released images that show aerial views of the site. Yet they're wary about revealing the entirety of what they found.

"We can't show the overall place because we'd like to protect the site" from treasure hunters and looters, said Steven Elkins, a documentary filmmaker who's leading the Honduras exploration, in a statement.

His worries are certainly valid. Looters often ransack historical sites in order to sell artifacts to collectors and tourists. In fact, Mirador, the cradle of Mayan civilization in Guatemala, has been particularly hard hit.

"The entire Peten region has been sacked in the past 20 years and every year hundreds of archaeological sites are being destroyed by organized looting crews seeking Maya antiquities for sale on the international market," said a report, detailing the looting phenomenon.

Currently, the researchers are planning to take to the ground in order to further investigate the archaeological site. They hope that they'll find a treasure trove of ruins.

The current findings will be announced at the 2013 Meeting of the Americas in Cancún, Mexico.