Researchers have found more than 60,000 hidden Maya ruins in Guatemala in a major archaeological breakthrough. The researchers mapped over 2100 square kilometers in northern Peten by using laser technology to survey digitally beneath the forest canopy, revealing houses, palaces, elevated highways, and defensive fortifications. <br/><br/>Most of the 60,000 newly identified structures are thought to be stone platforms that would have supported the average pole-and-thatch Maya home. The landscape, near already-known Maya cities, is thought to have been home to millions. Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology at Brown University Stephen Houston said it is one of the greatest advances in over 150 years of Maya archaeology. <br/><br/>Maya civilisation, at its peak some 1,500 years ago, covered an area about twice the size of medieval England, with an estimated population of around five million. The Lidar survey was the first part of a three-year project led by a Guatemalan organization that promotes cultural heritage preservation. It will eventually map more than 14,000 square kilometers of Guatemala's lowlands.