April
16
/ 2024
With the assistance of data obtained in 2011 with advanced laser scanning technology, archaeologists have been able to identify the remains of a 1,700-year-old lost city on the island of Tongatapu in the Tonga island chain. Using the LiDAR remote sensing system, a popular tool for archaeologists performing aerial surveys, researchers spotted and mapped nearly 10,000 mounds upon which individual or family residences had been constructed in many cases, and where the buried tombs of elites had been located in others. These mounds were found distributed across the landscape about 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) away from Tonga’s capital city of Nuku'alofa, along the island’s northern seacoast. As of now, this is the oldest city ever found on an island in
