The Amazon May Be Hiding More Than 10,000 Pre-Columbian Structures
Based on a new aerial survey and modeling study, archaeologists suggest at least 90 percent of sites known as earthworks remain undetected
Sarah Kuta
Daily Correspondent
October 6, 2023
Researchers have only discovered a small fraction of the pre-Columbian earthworks in the Amazon rainforest, according to new research. Mauricio de Paiva
More than 10,000 undiscovered pre-Columbian structures—and as many as 23,000—are likely hidden beneath the dense foliage of the Amazon rainforest in South America, according to new research.
The Amazon is massive, spanning some 2.3 million square miles across Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname. Indigenous societies have lived in the expansive rainforest for more than 12,000 years. But archaeologists have only uncovered a small fraction of their permanent settlements, ceremonial sites and infrastructure.
Now, in a new paper published Thursday in the journal Science, researchers say roughly 90 percent of these sites have yet to be found beneath the canopy. In a five-year aerial survey, a team of researchers studied a roughly 2,000-square-mile area of the Amazon using lidar, a remote sensing technology that can produce highly detailed, three-dimensional images of the landscape.
They uncovered 24 previously unknown pre-Columbian earthworks, which are intentionally formed elevation changes in the land. These sites, which might include wells, ponds, ring ditches or geoglyphs, could have served a ceremonial, social or defensive purpose, per the paper.
More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-amazon-may-be-hiding-more-than-10000-pre-columbian-structures-180983031/
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