(NNN) -- In the Amazon's thick rainforests, archaeologists chanced upon a vast complex of ancient cities dating back approximately 2,500 years.
The unearthed pre-Hispanic settlements, meticulously structured with broad streets, lengthened and straight pathways, squares, and clusters of monumental platforms, were located in the Upano Valley in Ecuador's Amazon region, at the eastern foothills of the Andes, according to a study published in the journal Science last Thursday.
The discovery of the oldest and most vast built and excavated urban network yet found in the Amazon is the fruit of over two decades of research conducted in the area by a multi-national team from France, Germany, Ecuador, and Puerto Rico.
Fieldwork initiated the research journey, leading onto the deployment of a remote sensing method known as lidar (a laser-based object detection and measurement system), which uses laser light to locate structures hidden under the forest's thick canopy.
The study's lead author, Stéphen Rostain, an archaeologist and Research Director at France's National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), deemed the find as "incredible".
Advanced Engineering
"Lidar gave us an overview of the region and we could appreciate the extent of the sites," Rostain shared with NNN last Friday, adding that it revealed to them a "complete network" of excavated roads. "Lidar was the icing on the cake."
Rostain mentioned that the area's early inhabitants, 3,000 years ago, had scattered small houses. However, between 500 B.C. and 300 to 600 A.D., the Kilamope cultures, and later Upano, started building mounds and settling their houses on earth platforms, according to the study. These platforms were arranged around a low, square plaza.
Lidar technology data revealed the existence of more than 6,000 platforms in the southern half of the 600-square kilometer area covered by the study.
The platforms were mostly rectangular shaped, with some circulars, measuring around 20 by 10 meters. They were typically constructed around a plaza in groups of three or six. Plazas frequently featured a central platform.
The team also found monumental complexes with much larger platforms, which likely had civic or ceremonial purposes.
At least 15 groups of complexes were identified as settlements.
Some settlements were surrounded by trenches, and path obstructions were found near some larger complexes. According to researchers, this suggests the settlements faced threats, be it external or arising from intra-group tensions.
Even the most isolated complexes were linked through roads and a comprehensive network of straight highways with curbings.
In the vacant areas between the complexes, the team encountered agricultural features, such as drainage fields and terraces, which the study states were interconnected through a network of trails.
"That's why I call them garden cities," Rostain said, "It completely revolutionizes our paradigm about the Amazon."
"We need to consider that not all indigenous people of the forest were semi-nomadic tribes wandering in the forest seeking food. There is a vast variety, diversity of scenarios and some had also an urban system, with a hierarchical society," Rostain said.
The cities' overall arrangement points towards "the existence of advanced engineering" in that era, according to the study authors, concluding that the Upano Valley's garden urbanism "provides further proof that the Amazon is not the pristine jungle it once was thought to be."
Rostain suggested that we should perceive the pre-Columbia Amazon "like an anthill," with everyone engaged in their activities.
Similar Sites across the American Continent
The newly discovered urban network closely aligns with other sites found in the tropical forests of Panama, Guatemala, Belize, Brazil, and Mexico, according to landscape archaeologist Carlos Morales-Aguilar, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, who was not involved in the study.
Morales-Aguilar characterized the study as "groundbreaking" and stated to NNN that it not only "provides palpable evidence of early and advanced urban planning in the Amazon, but it significantly enhances our understanding of the cultural and environmental legacy of the indigenous societies in this region."
In 2022, Morales-Aguilar was part of a research team that used lidar technology to discover a massive site in northern Guatemala, encompassing hundreds of interconnected ancient Mayan cities, towns, and villages, alongside a network of 177 kilometers of elevated stone trails connecting the communities.
The researcher verified that the findings of this latest study mirrored the advanced agriculture techniques and city planning he...
