2024-01-12 14:21:51
Archaeologists used lidar to get a better image of the ancient urban center. – STEPHEN ROSTAIN
MADRID, 12 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
A complex network of structures and paths pre-Hispanic people have been detected by aerial laser remote sensing (lidar) hidden under the canopy of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador.
With 2,500 years old, It is the oldest (and largest) example of agricultural civilization never recorded in the dense tropical rainforest of South America.
Archaeologists have been studying the Upano Valley site, located along a stretch of the Ecuadorian Upper Amazon, for several decades. However, it was not until they began observing the terrain with an airborne lidar system that complex structures hidden beneath the vegetation began to be revealed, according to a study published in the journal Science.
“I have explored the site many times, but the lidar gave me another view of the earth,” the study’s lead author, Stéphen Rostain, an archaeologist and research director at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), told Live Science. “On foot there are trees in the way and it is difficult to see what is really hiding there.”
Archaeological excavations showed that the site, which covers approximately 600 square kilometers, It was occupied from approximately 500 BC to sometime between 300 and 600 AD, according to the study.
The researchers used lidar to assess half of the sprawling site, which was built by members of the pre-Hispanic Kilamope and Upano cultures, two sedentary agrarian societies that once occupied the valley. After a “pause”, some of the settlements were occupied by the Huapula cultureaccording to the study.
Lidar images showed that the site contained more than 6,000 rectangular earthen platforms, plaza structures and mounds that were interconnected through an extensive network of straight roads and trails.
“The streets not only crisscrossed throughout the site but also led off the site,” Rostain said. “All of these roads worked together and were used to connect the community.”
The researchers also discovered clusters of nearly 15 “distinct” settlement sites that varied in size and number of structures, according to a statement.
Some of these settlements also had “huge mounds” that stretched up to 150 meters long and 8 meters high, Rostain said, adding that “it’s impressive” how elaborate the site is both in the variety of construction and the enormity of some of the structures.
Due to its large size and complexity, the site “resembles similar Mayan urban systems in Central America.” “Such a discovery is another vivid example of the underestimation of the double heritage of the Amazon: environmental but also cultural and therefore indigenous,” the study’s authors wrote in their paper. “…we believe that it is crucial to thoroughly review our preconceived ideas about the Amazon world and, in doing so, reinterpret contexts and concepts in the necessary light of an inclusive and participatory science”.
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