The remains of an ancient Mayan settlement spanning 650 square miles across the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin region, near the Mexico border has recently been discovered in a forest in Guatemala. The site includes the remnants of platforms, pyramids, reservoirs, and canals. Archaeologists believe that the city would also once have consisted of nearly 1,000 settlements, connected by one hundred miles of causeways.

The remains were discovered using a form of laser technology known as LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging. This is a remote sensing method in which the light from a pulsed laser is beamed down from an aeroplane, and the reflected light constructs an image of the landscape. The use of LiDAR technology enabled scientists to cut through foliage and cloud formations to get a clear aerial views of the site, and to identify the remains of the previously hidden city.

The new discovery is particularly significant because it contradicts archaeologists’ and historians’ previously held beliefs that Mesoamerican settlements were sparsely populated. The new site suggests a densely populated city with hubs for recreation, trade, and politics. Some of the settlements even appear to have some form of ball court attached, not dissimilar from those many homes boast today.  

A summary of the discovery, which has been published in an article in the Cambridge University Press journal Ancient Mesoamerica, describes the site as "one of the largest, contiguous, regional LiDAR studies published to date in the Maya Lowlands." The use of LiDAR technology to scan the region was inspired by previous successes of similar trials in Belize and Cambodia.

While archaeologists are still analysing the results of their findings, the new settlements "provide evidence for early centralised administrative and socio-economic strategies within a defined geographical region", according to the study, and substantially contribute to our understanding of ancient Mesoamerican civilizations.

In August 2022, archaeologists excavating a site in the Southern Israeli desert unearthed what they have classified as the remains of a lavish mansion, granting historians a glimpse into the lives of wealthy residents of the Negev region in the early Islamic period, more than 1,200 years ago. But what did they discover about the luxurious lives of the inhabitants, click or scroll on to see...

The discovery was made in the Bedouin town of Rahat during the course of an excavation conducted in collaboration with the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Authority for the Development and Settlement of the Bedouin, and is near to the site of a mosque discovered back in June 2022 which archaeologists estimate dates to the same period.

The home, which is believed to date back to the 8th or 9th century, according to Israel’s antiquity authority, is constructed around a central courtyard, and features four wings, including one which boasts a marble hallway, stone floors, and frescoed walls. It is these opulent remains that suggest most strongly that the home’s owner lived a life of luxury and comfort.

Other indications of the owner’s status were unearthed in the form of shards from ornately decorated glass serving dishes, pieces of oil lamps, and, most intriguingly, a network of subterranean vaults which historians suspect may have been used as an early refrigeration system. Along side these vaults, a series of what appear to be bunkers reportedly may have been used to protect residents from heat, or maybe even war.

"The luxurious estate and the unique impressive underground vaults are evidence of the owners’ means", the excavation directors said in a statement, as reported by the Associated Press. "Their high status and wealth allowed them to build a luxurious mansion that served as a residence and for entertaining." If you’re curious to take your own peek into the past, the site has now reportedly been transformed into a public exhibition, offering guided tours around the ancient estate.

Read on to discover what the elite and ordinary homes of ancient civilisations looked like...

One of the cradles of civilisation, Mesopotamia was located in the Middle East's Fertile Crescent around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (roughly around Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey and Syria in today's geography). The cultures that sprang up in the region during the 6th millennium BC developed writing, invented the wheel and built the first cities complete with sprawling palaces, vast pyramid-like temple towers called ziggurats and jaw-dropping structures such as the mystical Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Ordinary Mesopotamians lived in homes crafted from plaited reeds, some of which were plastered with clay. A testament to their ingenuity, these so-called raba and larger mudhif abodes continue to be constructed today by the Ma'dan people (aka the Marsh Arabs) of southern Iraq, though many were destroyed in the 1990s by the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Rabas and mudhifs had an entrance at each end and contained a screen to divide the main dwelling area from a space that was used for guest accommodation or livestock. Furniture ranged from simple tables and chairs to sleeping mats made of woven reeds. The homes were lit with sesame oil lamps while clay-lined firepits were used to heat the interior during the winter months.

As you might expect, the king and courtier class lived in monumental palaces. This image shows the palace of Assyrian King Sargon II in Dur-Sharrukin during the 8th century BC. The Mesopotamian upper classes resided in grander homes built from whitewashed sun-dried mud bricks. Unlike the more modest rabas and mudhifs, these dwellings often came with windows. 

Elite Mesopotamian homes, which were the first to feature separate bedrooms, were kitted out with luxuries such as plumbed toilets, decorative braziers for heating and elaborate furniture including beds overlaid with precious metals. Rooms were adorned with frescos and imposing relief sculptures. Shown here is an artist's impression of a hall in King Sennacherib's palace in Nineveh around 700 BC.

From 5000 BC to around 30 BC, the Ancient Egyptians flourished around the River Nile region of northeast Africa, where they developed systems of mathematics and medicine, and created sophisticated works of art and literature. But the civilisation is best-known for its wondrous feats of engineering, which include complex irrigation systems, obelisks, temples and the world-famous pyramids.

Homes in Ancient Egypt were constructed from mud bricks and papyrus. The annual flooding of the Nile made mud a plentiful raw material, which was formed into bricks that dried solid in the sun. Wood was in short supply, so only tended to be used for doorways, ceiling supports and furniture.

People lower down the social strata lived in simple one-room abodes with flat roofs that were used for sleeping on the warmest nights. The houses tended to lead into open-walled courtyards, where animals were kept and food was cooked. Windows and doors were covered with papyrus. Furniture was very basic, consisting largely of reed mats and the odd wooden chair or bed.  

In contrast, the homes of the elite were sumptuous affairs. These high-end dwellings were constructed from whitewashed mud bricks or limestone and contained numerous rooms. The fanciest of them all were the palaces, which wowed with colonnaded exteriors, cooling pools and extensive gardens.

Like the elite homes of Mesopotamia, these structures had all the mod cons of the era, including separate toilets, large kitchens and guest rooms. The walls and ceilings were painted with colourful frescos depicting hieroglyphics and images of the gods, and rooms were furnished with chairs, tables, mirrors, pottery and a whole lot more besides.

The Minoan culture was Europe's first advanced civilisation and its people thrived on Crete and the surrounding Aegean islands from 2000 BC to around 1500 BC. A seafaring people, the Minoans developed a large maritime trading network, manufactured advanced tools, produced beautiful art and built stunning multi-storied palaces. This fresco of the 'Ladies in Blue', estimated to date from around 1600 to 1450 BC, was discovered in the Palace of Knossos and shows three women in lavish dress adorned with many jewels. ​

Even the poorest Minoans lived in fairly large rectangular duplex houses, and some even came with enclosed courtyards. They were made from stone rather than the mud bricks the Egyptians and Mesopotamians favoured, making them more robust. This picture shows a clay model of a house from the Middle Minoan period that was discovered in Archanes, Crete.

The Minoans were renowned for their elaborate palaces. The most famous of them all is the palace complex of Knossos, which is the setting for the myth of the Minotaur. Covering the equivalent of two football fields, the enormous royal residence was built and subsequently reconstructed during the 2nd millennium BC.

The multi-storey labyrinth-like palace had a plethora of capacious colonnaded rooms and courtyards, elegant staircases, advanced drainage systems, and theatre areas for public performances. As you can see from this recreation of a room at Knossos, the well-appointed interiors were lavish and highly decorative.

The Mayan civilisation, which covered large swathes of Central America at its peak, was highly advanced and is remarkable for its complex writing, mathematics and astronomical systems, symbolic art and monumental architecture. The earliest settlements date to around 1800 BC and the civilisation thrived until its decline during the latter part of the first millennium AD.

The homes of ordinary people in the Mayan Empire were constructed from wood and straw, which was often lined with baked mud and clay for added insulation. Lime was also used to whiten the exterior. The structures tended to be oval rather than round in shape and the roofs were thatched to keep out the elements.

The homes of the lower classes had just one room that was sometimes partitioned by a screen. Sapling rod beds or hammocks, which were first woven by the Mayans around 2000 BC, were used for sleeping and resting. Apart from the beds and hammocks, the abodes contained very little else apart from some pottery and perhaps a storage chest.

The homes of the elite looked more fancy, with multiple rooms and fine pieces of furniture. The palaces of the Mayan Empire were especially extravagant, as shown by this model of the Palace of Palenque in what is now Chiapas, Mexico. The palace housed the rulers of Palenque (a Maya city state in southern Mexico) from 250 BC to AD 900.

This image of the interior courtyard of the Palace of Quetzalpapálotl in the ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan (near modern-day Mexico City) gives you an idea of how the elite lived. With meticulously carved pillars inlaid with volcanic glass and murals painted all over the walls, the palace was built sometime around AD 200. Like the Palace of Palenque, the rooms are organised around the courtyard.

Noted for its cities, industrial technologies, writing and chariots, the Kingdom of Israel rose in the 11th century BC and much of its history is alluded to in the Bible. The kingdom split into two following the death of King Solomon in 931 BC and was thereafter colonised by a string of foreign powers, including the Assyrians and Romans. The First and Second Temples, as well as its royal palaces, were the civilisation's crowning architectural achievements.

The homes of the less affluent members of society had pounded earth floors and contained few items of furniture apart from some chairs and a chest that doubled up as a table. Oil lamps provided light and simple pottery was used for cooking and storing water and foodstuffs. Bedding consisted of mats on the floor.

The elite lived in larger homes with clay tile flooring and a wider variety of furniture. The richest in society resided in splendid palaces. According to the Bible, King Solomon's palace was packed with gold. This photo shows a model of the palace built by Herod the Great in Jerusalem during the 1st century BC.

This is a recreation of the lower terrace reception hall of Herod the Great's Northern Palace in the Masada fortress, which was besieged by the Romans in AD 73 and AD 74. Strongly influenced by Roman design, the reception hall is resplendent with a Corinthian portico, ornate friezes and Pompeiian-style frescos.

The Iron Age in Britain lasted from the 9th century BC to the Roman invasion of AD 43. During this era, many innovations were introduced, including iron technology and the potter's wheel, and the population increased to around one million. Britons at the time had a Celtic culture and produced intricate tools and exquisite pieces of jewellery.

This image shows a reconstructed roundhouse in Bostadh, Scotland. The Iron Age Celts lived in windowless roundhouses like this one and were constructed from wattle and daub, a composite of wood mixed with clay, straw and animal dung. The walls were washed in lime and the roofs were thatched. 

This picture of the interior of the reconstructed roundhouse in Bostadh offers an insight into how ordinary Iron Age Britons lived. At the centre of the one-room home is a hearth that was used for cooking and heating. A small opening in the roof provided ventilation. Furniture was rudimentary, comprising chiefly of pottery items and animal skins.

The houses of the elite weren't much different from those of ordinary people in Iron Age Britain, suggesting a more egalitarian social setup when compared to civilisations such as the Ancient Egyptians, Minoans and Mayans. The upper classes also lived in roundhouses, though they tended to be located in hill forts and are likely to have been larger than the homes of the common folk.

This photo shows the interior of a roundhouse at Castell Henllys Iron Age Village in Wales that would have accommodated a prominent and wealthy family. Although it looks similar in terms of architecture to the Bostadh dwelling, the furnishings – which include wooden benches and tables, a metal cauldron and woven textiles – are far more luxurious.

Emerging in the 31st century BC and enduring until the 5th century AD, Ancient Rome expanded to envelope much of Europe and North Africa. A major military superpower with a population of up to 100 million at its height, the civilisation was also a cultural powerhouse renowned for its art, literature and architecture, the most celebrated examples of which include the Roman Colosseum and Pantheon.

This image depicts the Casa Via de Diana insula in Ostia, Italy. Many of the ordinary people of Ancient Rome were packed like sardines into apartment buildings of five or more storeys called insulae and are arguably the world's first high-rise homes. These tenement dwellings had a tendency to be horribly rundown and were prone to collapses and fires. 

The lower floors of the insulae were highly sought after because they had larger rooms and running water. This image shows the interior of Ostia's Termopolio insula, where the poorest members of society had to make do with the tiny rooms and cramped conditions of the upper floors. Furniture was limited to a bed, cupboard, chest and lamp, and if they were lucky, the least affluent may have owned a statue of a god.

Shown here is a large Roman villa that was reconstructed in the German village of Borg. Aside from the emperors and governors who resided in opulent palaces, the Roman elite (also known as the senatores and equites) lived in townhouses called domi with numerous rooms, an inner atrium and a garden, which was called the hortus. The wealthiest people also owned a suburban villa urbana and/or a villa rustica in the country where they could escape to. 

The villas of the senatores and equites contained plenty of sizeable rooms and an atria, and many came with large gardens. The interiors were decorated with frescos and contained shrines to the gods. Furniture included comfortable reclining couches called lecti, curule chairs, tables, lamps and wooden storage chests.

Similar to the homes of their predecessors the Mayans, ordinary Aztec dwellings were built from a variety of materials from wood or straw lined with clay to whitewashed adobe bricks, and had thatched roofs. An igloo-shaped temazcalli, which is a type of sweat lodge, was constructed adjacent to the home and was used for everything from ritual cleansing and healing to childbirth.

The nobles, who were known as the Pipiltin, resided in much bigger homes centred around a courtyard. Again, the style of home was similar to that of the Mayans. The most ostentatious abodes were reserved for the upper echelons of society. This shot shows a model of the Palace of Monteczuma II in Tenochtitlan, the former Mayan city that became the Aztec capital (the centre of Mexico City in today's geography).

The crème de la crème of Aztec society lived in the lap of luxury and their homes had all sorts of fantastic features, including botanical gardens and menageries. Though they were decorated with striking murals, the interiors of elite Aztec homes were very minimalist. The lack of furniture even in the Palace of Monteczuma II is said to have bemused the Spanish conquistadors.

Love this? Take a look at more incredible historic homes