Archaeologists have discovered a lost city complex in the Amazon rainforest that was home to at least 10,000 farmers some 2,000 years ago.
A series of earth mounds and buried roads in Ecuador was first brought to attention by archaeologist Stefan Rostain more than 20 years ago.
But at the time, “we didn't know how it all fit together,” said Rostain, one of the researchers who reported the discovery Thursday in the journal Science.
Recent mapping using laser sensor technology reveals that these ruins, tucked away in the forested foothills of the Andes, are part of a dense network of settlements and connecting roads that have lasted for about 1,000 years. became.
“It was a valley of lost cities,” said Rostain, who is leading the research at France's National Center for Scientific Research. “That's unbelievable.”
Researchers have found that the settlement was inhabited by the Upano people from around 500 BC to 300 to 600 AD, roughly the same period as the Roman Empire in Europe.
Built on more than 6,000 earthen mounds, the houses and ceremonial buildings were surrounded by farmland with drainage channels.
The largest roads were 33 feet wide and 6 to 12 miles long.
Although population estimates are difficult to estimate, the site was home to at least 10,000 people, and perhaps as many as 15,000 or 30,000 at its peak, say researchers from the same French institute. said author and archaeologist Antoine Dollison.
This is comparable to the estimated population of Roman London, Britain's largest city at the time.
“This shows a very dense occupation and a very complex society,” said Michael Heckenberger, an archaeologist at the University of Florida who was not involved in the study. “It’s really special for this region in terms of how quickly it happens.”
José Iriarte, an archaeologist at the University of Exeter, said building the roads and thousands of earth mounds would have required an elaborate system of organized labor.
“While the Incas and Mayans used stone to build their homes, the Amazonians typically did not have stones to build their homes with and instead used mud to build their homes. It takes a lot of effort,” said Iriarte, who was not involved in the study.
The Amazon is often thought of as a place with untouched nature and only a few people. But recent discoveries have shown how complex the past really is,” he said.
Scientists have recently discovered evidence of complex rainforest societies that predated European contact in other parts of the Amazon, including Bolivia and Brazil.
“The Amazon has always had an incredibly diverse range of people and settlements, with more than just one way of life,” Rostain says. “We're still learning more about them.”
