Huge network of ancient cities beneath the Amazon rainforest

Ecuador Archaeologists have discovered a network of cities stretching deep into the Amazon rainforest that dates back 2,500 years.

The area was surveyed using LiDAR technology using laser light. Photo: Antoine Dorison, Stéphen Rostain — The area was surveyed using LiDAR technology using laser light. Photo: *Antoine Dorison, Stéphen Rostain*

Pre-Columbian settlements with long, wide streets, straight roads, plazas and clusters of monuments were found in the Upano Valley of the Ecuadorian Amazon, in the eastern foothills of the Andes, according to research published on January 11 in the journal Science. The discovery of the largest and oldest network of masonry and excavations in the Amazon to date is the result of more than two decades of exploration in the region by a team of researchers from France, Germany, Ecuador and Puerto Rico, according to CNN .

The study began with fieldwork before deploying a remote sensing method called LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), which uses laser light to reveal structures beneath the thick canopy. Lead researcher Stéphen Rostain, archaeologist and director of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), described the find as exceptional. "LiDAR allowed us to get a general overview of the area and assess the size of the structures, revealing the entire road network," Rostain said.

Rostain says the first people to live there, 3,000 years ago, had small, scattered houses. But sometime between 500 BC and 300-600 AD, the Kilamope and later Upano cultures began building mounds and erecting houses on them. The foundations were arranged around a low, square plaza. LiDAR data revealed more than 6,000 foundations in the southern half of the 600-square-kilometer survey area.

Most of the foundations were rectangular, although some were circular, measuring 20 x 10 meters, according to the study. They typically surrounded plazas in clusters of three or six. The plazas also had central platforms. The team also found monument complexes with larger platforms, which may have served civic or ceremonial functions. They identified at least 15 complexes when they discovered the settlement.

Some of the protected settlements were protected by ditches, and there were roadblocks near some of the larger compounds, suggesting that the people faced external threats or tensions between groups. Even the most remote compounds were connected to roads and had an extensive network of straight roads with curbs. In the open buffer zones between compounds, the team found signs of cultivation, such as drainage fields and terraces, connected to trails.

The entire layout of the city suggests the existence of advanced technology at the time, according to the researchers. The newly discovered urban network closely resembles other sites found in the rainforests of Panama, Guatemala, Belize, Brazil and Mexico, said archaeologist Carlos Morales-Aguilar, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas at Austin. He said the study provides compelling evidence of early urban planning in the Amazon, and is an important contribution to understanding the cultures of the region’s indigenous communities.

An Khang (According to CNN )

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