Ancient Metropolis “The White City” Dedicated to Monkey God Worshipped by Pre-Columbian Civilization

As per Conservation International, the La Mosquitia territory encompasses about 1,350 square miles and is among the most intact lowland tropical zones in Latin America, sustaining another of Honduras' top important ecological clusters.

To native folklore, a historic empire dubbed as "La Ciudad Blanca," or "The White City," lies far in the northern Honduran woods.

Researchers unearthed sites and relics that were engulfed by the forest using evidence obtained by earlier ventures and other ground-surveying radars and infrared scanners, exposing mysteries of an ancient civilization that might be over 1,000 years old.

Yet, the territory is today endangered by illicit logging and animal smuggling, posing major hazards not just to native ecosystems and biodiversity but also to the safeguarding of key ancient sites, as stated by cinematographer and adventurer Doug Elkins.

The Magnificent White City

Its title refers to enormous white stone pillars purportedly seen by European conquistadors and subsequently Western colonists; the settlement is said to have been devoted to a monkey god idolized by a pre-Columbian civilization.

Elkins was a member of the expedition that uncovered the remains of what is believed to be the White City in partnership with the Honduran authorities and Honduran experts.

"We were up in the highlands, several days by boat trip off modern civilization, when we came across this giant boulder with a rock formation: a figure wearing a mask or helmet, carrying a rod and a bag by what appeared to be seeds sprouting out of it," he explained.

The National Geographic said that in the 1940s, an American voyager named Theodore Morde arrived from an exploration mission to La Mosquitia with thousands of relics.

Morde proclaimed how he had found the iconic district and that Native communities explained an immense monument of a monkey god that were laid to rest there.

Elkins' interest in the White City emerged in the 1990s, after he learned it while employed as a documentary maker. He told reporters that the intricate petroglyph indicated there were previously ancient dwellings in the region, despite the fact that no evidence of them was evident at the time.

Laser beams sniped off the surface as the scan plane buzzed over the forest, measuring the altitudes of buildings concealed behind deep jungle coverage so engineers can recreate the terrain in 3D.

3D models of the land were then used to eliminate the forest area, exposing what seemed to be structure foundation, farmland fields, roadways, and waterways.

Voyage to Finding the Ancient Metropolis' Location

Backpacking to the secluded area posed hurdles that pushed the team to their boundaries, such as interactions with poisonous reptiles, quicksand, massive numbers of flying insects, and even flesh-eating microbes, said Douglas Preston, crew member and writer of "The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story," in 2017.

According to explorer participant Christopher Fisher, a Mesoamerican archaeologist and educator of anthropology at Colorado State University, one rock estimate entombed with its head poking out of the surface might be a were-jaguar, which is assumed to be a portrayal of a shaman's divine presence during the ceremonial conversion.

Moreover, the archaeologists discovered tombs, promenades, ships engraved with ravens and serpent, and a pyramidal with a stockpile of rock statues concealed at its foot deep in the bush.

Due to their secluded areas and minimal state funding, most of the Honduran jungle undoubtedly contains traces of innumerable old ruins that were never examined or recorded. According to Castro, most of these remains may reflect societies that contemporary historians are yet unaware of.