A lost city in Honduras was found recently. The city located close to many Mayan city ruins was under-explored compared to the Mayan ruins. Archaeologists don’t have a name for the city yet, but believe that it may be part of a community of cities they call the “White Cities.” CNN says that an archaeological team brought a team of documentary filmmakers, journalists, LIDAR engineers, an ethnobotanist, and anthropologists into the site to create a documentary film about the newly found city.

This unnamed lost culture has not been studied very closely yet and the region it is located is a very untouched Honduran rainforest. CNN stated archaeologist Oscar Cruz estimated the city to be from the year 1000 A.D. to 1400 A.D. The team has decided to leave the site of the city unexcavated so that outside people aren’t coming to loot it. Anybody that goes to the city is accompanied by Honduran Special Forces. CNN had a quote from ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin about how important the rainforest, which the city is located in, “This is clearly the most undisturbed rain forest in Central America. The importance of this place can’t be overestimated.”

This wonderful city newly found is a great example of how we are expanding our knowledge of the past. National Geographic asked IHAH director some questions and one of his answers about the well being of the forest was that it will be gone within eight years if there is no action taken to protect the lost city and the rainforest it is located in. More information about the lost city can be found in CNN’s article and National Geographic’s article.