The Amazon Rainforest is more than a place with a wide variety of tree species numbering around 16,000. It's an expanse of greenery that was once considered pristine and untouched by Western scientists but is now recognized as the home to ancient human civilizations that have thrived here for thousands of years.
A recent study utilizing laser mapping and modeling techniques has brought to light numerous hidden archaeological sites beneath the dense foliage of the Amazon. These findings support the beliefs held by archaeologists like Eduardo Neves from the University of São Paulo who argue that "the Amazon is not a forest but a landscape shaped by indigenous peoples over countless generations." These discoveries could further strengthen the rights of day indigenous tribes to their ancestral lands.
Archaeology has been transformed by Lidar, a technology used for aerial laser mapping. It enables researchers to uncover man made structures concealed beneath soil and thick vegetation—something that satellite imagery alone cannot achieve. Lidars capabilities were demonstrated in 2021 when it revealed structures in Mexico dating back, than 3,000 years.
In that year it played a crucial role in the identification of ancient sites belonging to the Casarabe culture in the Bolivian Amazon.
Unveiling Human Influence in the Amazon
Archaeologists have made discoveries within the Amazon uncovering human made features like moats, geoglyphs, lakes and wells with geometric shapes. Some of these structures date back far as 1,500 years. The indigenous people of that time also cultivated trees and crops transforming the landscape and creating pockets of land. However it wasn't until Lidar technology was introduced that a systematic search for features became possible.
Vinicius Peripato, a sensing scientist at Brazils National Institute for Space Research had an intriguing idea; could Lidar expose the hidden secrets of the entire Amazon basin? Collaborating with than 130 colleagues they analyzed publicly available Lidar data encompassing the entire basin. This data was initially collected by the government to estimate rainforest biomass. Through their analysis they discovered patterns reminiscent of ancient human constructions.
Unearthing Hidden Sites
By examining 5,315 kilometers of Lidar data in detail Peripato and his team managed to identify over 900 known human made structures. Furthermore they unearthed 24 unknown constructions that include potential ceremonial sites and fortified villages with megalithic structures. It's important to note that their initial data covered, about 0.1% of the vast Amazon region spanning 6.7 million square kilometers.
As a result they combined the discovered works with those already known to make a statistical estimation of the remaining undiscovered works in the basin.
Considering factors like temperature, rainfall, soil type and proximity to water sources the researchers have reported in Science today that approximately 16,187 works are still hidden within the Amazon.
If their calculations prove accurate it means that than 90 percent of ancient human creations will remain concealed beneath the forest canopy.
Furthermore the authors found a correlation between 35 species of cultivated trees such as Brazil nut Pará rubber tree, murumuru, cacao and the likelihood of discovering human made structures.
This finding aligns with research indicating that cultivated tree species are more prevalent near archaeological sites.
According to Takeshi Inomata from the University of Arizona who led a Lidar study in Mexico in 2021 tropical areas were traditionally perceived as forests. However these new findings suggest that they were actually populated areas. It represents a step towards gaining deeper insights into archaeology, within the Amazon region.
The teams model suggests that most of these creations are concentrated in the southwestern part of the Amazon basin.
"It makes sense " noted Daiana Travassos Alves, an archaeobotanist at the Federal University of Pará who was not involved in the study. She mentioned that previously reported works have been discovered there.
According to Alves the next step will involve fieldwork to verify if researchers can indeed locate these anticipated features. She expressed excitement stating that it would be quite surprising.
The implications of these findings could extend to the land rights of day indigenous peoples, which has been a contentious issue in Brazil recently. The authors argue that these human made structures serve as evidence of ancestral occupation, their way of life and their established connection with the forest.
The Amazon rainforest is not an ecological treasure but also a cultural heritage shared by both indigenous peoples and nature itself. Neves stated that it represents the result of thousands of years of co evolution between communities and their environment.
Source; Science Laser mapping reveals structures in Amazon with hints at thousands more, by Rodrigo Perez Ortega. Oct. 5 2023
Image: Thousands of ancient geometric embankments, like this one at Fazenda Paraná, may remain scattered and hidden throughout the Amazon basin. Maurizio De Paiva
Post a Comment