Ancient villages found in Amazon
Deforestation is revealing the rain forest’s secrets
Archaeologists on Tuesday announced the discovery of 81 previously unknown villages in a small portion of the Amazon River region, which in total covers more than 2.1 million square miles of tropical terrain in eight countries, including Brazil, Peru and Ecuador. In addition to the villages, roads and farms also were discovered. The study said there is evidence for hundreds more villages that have yet to be uncovered in the Amazon.
Scientists say that portion of the southern Amazon rain forest was once home to 500,000 to 1 million people before Europeans arrived in the late 1400s and early 1500s.
This means far more people likely lived in the Amazon than previously had been thought. The study authors write that this new research “definitively discredits early low estimates of 1.5-2 million inhabitants for the whole basin.”
The discovery fills a major gap in the history of the Amazon and provides additional evidence that the rain forest – once thought to be untouched by human farming or occupation – has in fact been heavily influenced by those who lived in it.
First using satellite images, then inperson surveys, scientists found the remains of villages and man-made ditches with square, circular or hexagonal shapes, the purpose of which remains unknown. After being hidden for centuries, these strange shapes have been made visible because of deforestation over the past few years.
The study was published Tuesday in Nature Communications, a peer-reviewed British journal.