Known for their distinctive temples and cities which stood for centuries but due to factors such as war and disease the Mayans faded into obscurity around 300 years ago.

瑪雅人以其獨具特色的神廟和城市而聞名，這些神廟和城市屹立了幾個世紀，但由於戰爭和疾病等因素，大約 300 年前，瑪雅人逐漸淡出了人們的視線。

However thanks to modern technology including radar archaeologists are now able to uncover the civilizations in their native North and Central American countries as Georgina Ranard explains.

不過，正如喬治娜-拉納德（Georgina Ranard）所解釋的那樣，多虧了包括雷達在內的現代技術，考古學家們現在才能夠揭開北美洲和中美洲國家本土文明的面紗。

Deep in the Central American jungle the trees are hiding treasures.

在中美洲叢林深處，樹木中隱藏著寶藏。

Radar fired from a plane peers through the canopy to search for ruins.

飛機發射的雷達穿過樹冠搜索廢墟。

This is in Guatemala but archaeologists have now discovered another huge city this time in Mexico.

這是在瓜地馬拉，但考古學家現在發現了另一座巨大的城市，這次是在墨西哥。

They're calling it Valeriana.

他們稱之為 Valeriana。

Now we don't have any pictures of Valeriana that's because no one's been there for hundreds of years so we thought we'd show you what it might have looked like here in this virtual studio.

現在我們沒有瓦萊里亞納的任何照片，那是因為幾百年來沒有人去過那裡，所以我們想在這個虛擬演播室裡向大家展示一下它可能的樣子。

This is a Mayan pyramid temple similar to the ones that would have been found in the city.

這是一座瑪雅金字塔神廟，與該城發現的金字塔神廟相似。

People worshipped here, brought riches like jade masks and even buried the dead.

人們在這裡祭拜，帶來玉面具等財富，甚至埋葬死者。

In total the team found almost 7,000 buildings in an area of the jungle about the size of Edinburgh.

在面積約相當於愛丁堡的叢林中，研究小組總共發現了近 7000 座建築。

Up to 50,000 people may have lived in this area at its peak in the 9th century.

在 9 世紀的鼎盛時期，可能有多達 5 萬人居住在這一地區。

Alongside houses the archaeologists found evidence of amphitheaters, plazas and even a sports field for an ancient ballgame.

除了房屋，考古學家還發現了露天劇場、廣場，甚至是古代球賽的運動場。

What would have been a very colorful, very lush and I think very striking environment to move through things like palaces and temple pyramids all of those would have been covered in lime plaster and then painted red, pink and yellow and black.

宮殿和寺廟金字塔等建築都用石灰抹灰覆蓋，然後塗上紅色、粉色、黃色和黑色的油漆。

There would have been clusters of buildings where people mostly spend their time making ceramics or mostly spend their time shaping stone tools.

在這些建築群中，人們大部分時間都在製作陶瓷，或者大部分時間都在打製石器。

This part of the world there's some evidence for marketplaces.

在世界的這個角落，有一些市場的證據。

It took centuries but war, climate change and the Spanish invasion caused the collapse of the Mayans.

經過幾個世紀，戰爭、氣候變化和西班牙的入侵導致瑪雅人的崩潰。

But their descendants still live in Campeche today and at the new site, just 15 minutes from a busy road, their ancient relatives lie beneath their feet.

但他們的後代如今仍生活在坎佩切，在距離繁忙公路僅 15 分鐘車程的新遺址，他們的古老親人就躺在腳下。

Georgina Ranard, BBC News.

Georgina Ranard，BBC 新聞。