Changing the perspective of Amazonian archaeology

May 27, 2022 12:28 PM

'Mind blowing’ ancient settlements uncovered in the Amazon via Nature.
The urban centres are the first to be discovered in the region, challenging archaeological dogma. Mysterious mounds in the southwest corner of the Amazon Basin were once the site of ancient urban settlements. Using a remote-sensing technology to map the terrain from the air, scientists found that, starting about 1,500 years ago, ancient Amazonians built and lived in densely populated centres, featuring 22-metre-tall earthen pyramids, that were encircled by kilometres of elevated roadways. Some background Amazon ecology: Footprints in the forest.
posted by adamvasco (6 comments total)

See also this Smithsonian writeup as a writeup for civilians. (Found via Charles C. Mann's Twitter feed; he's the author of 1491.)
posted by Nelson at 1:27 PM on May 27, 2022 [2 favorites]

I just wrote this up myself. It's great and a nice bit of news to take my mind off... things. Some other recent examples of lidar-powered discoveries in South America here and here (self links but not sure the journal articles will be available).
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 2:57 PM on May 27, 2022

Here is another discovery at Mérida on the Yucatan.
posted by Oyéah at 5:24 PM on May 27, 2022

That is SO EXCITING
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 7:27 PM on May 27, 2022

This reminds of hiking in some more rural areas of western MA. Miles from busy roads, there would be a calm, one-with-nature feeling and the lush forest surrounding and the wildlife frolicking and it would seem you’re in a primitive wild place! and then you realize the little hollow you’re in, overgrown and even a big tree in the middle, is rectangular. and the piles of rocks are quite linear. etc etc because you’re in an old house basement and those are stone fences and so you’re on someone’s former settlement left to return to nature…
posted by Tandem Affinity at 10:07 PM on May 27, 2022 [6 favorites]

This is really remarkable. I hate that something good is coming out of rampant deforestation, but it’s still amazing.
posted by Mchelly at 8:09 PM on May 28, 2022