The houses and squares in the Upano area, in eastern Ecuador where the relatively well-preserved settlement was discovered, were connected by an astonishing network of roads and canals.
The discovery therefore sheds a completely new light on the forms of society in that region.
“Although we knew of cities in the highlands of South America, such as Machu Picchu in Peru, until now it was believed that people lived only nomadically or in small settlements in the Amazon,” say archaeologists who are Europhilic about the find.
“This is older than any other site we know of in the Amazon and brings new insights into culture and civilization,” said Professor Stephen Rostain, research director at the National Center for Scientific Research in France, which led the study.
“We imagined small groups living there, probably naked, living in huts. But this shows that people were already living in complex urban societies back then,” says co-author Antoine Dorison.
The city that has now been uncovered was built about 2,500 years ago and, according to archaeologists, people lived there for up to 1,000 years.
Up to 100,000 people
It is difficult to estimate accurately how many people ever lived, but scientists say it is certainly around 10,000, if not 100,000 people.
The hidden village was found during excavations that included the use of laser sensors that scanned the ground from an aircraft flying over. It is so that the city lying under the dense growth of plants and trees was discovered.
Roads, paths and canals were also found, indicating that a large area was inhabited. At least 25 square kilometers, according to research that does not stop with this discovery. Another large area of about 300 square kilometers has never been properly explored.
Sweet beer
It must not have been completely safe to live there. “Some ditches blocked access to the settlements, which may indicate external threats. Possibly by people, certainly by animals.”
The area where this unique city was discovered lies in the shadow of a volcano that provided rich soil. The Kilamope and Upano people who lived in the region probably concentrated mainly on agriculture. People ate corn and sweet potato, and probably drank ‘chicha’, a kind of home-brewed sweet beer.