Laser mapping reveals oldest Amazonian cities, built 2500 years ago. Neighborhoods, farms, and roads are 1000 years older than previous discoveries.

“Lidar, which allows researchers to see through forest cover and reconstruct the ancient sites below, “is revolutionizing our understanding of the Amazon in pre-Columbian times,” says Carla Jaimes Betancourt, an archaeologist at the University of Bonn who wasn’t involved in the new work. Finding such an ancient urban network in the Upano Valley highlights the long-unrecognized diversity of ancient Amazonian cultures, which archaeologists are just beginning to be able to reconstruct.”

by Lizzie Wade

As published in Internazionale