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New Research Reveals Discovery of Huge Ancient City in the Amazon
A recent study has shed light on a massive ancient city located in the Amazon, hidden for thousands of years beneath the dense vegetation of the jungle. The findings of this research are changing the historical narrative of the Amazon and have significant implications for our understanding of ancient civilizations.
The city, situated in the Upano area of eastern Ecuador, boasted an advanced urban infrastructure with interconnected houses, squares, roads, and canals. It is believed that the rich volcanic soil of the area contributed to the city’s prosperity, but the shadow of a nearby volcano may have ultimately led to its demise.
While cities have been previously discovered in the highlands of South America, such as Machu Picchu in Peru, it was previously thought that the people of the Amazon region lived in small settlements or as nomadic groups. This newly discovered city challenges that belief, with researchers estimating that it may have been home to as many as 10,000 to 100,000 inhabitants at its peak.
The research employed cutting-edge LiDAR technology to uncover the remains of the city beneath the thick foliage, revealing the existence of thousands of rectangular platforms arranged in groups around plazas and connected by a network of roads and trails. These sophisticated features suggest that the ancient inhabitants of the Amazon lived in complex urban societies, a revelation that has upended previous assumptions about the region.
The discovery of this ancient city is being lauded as unique and groundbreaking, prompting researchers to plan the next stage of investigation in a contiguous 300 square kilometer area yet to be studied. The findings have opened up a new chapter in our understanding of the Amazon’s ancient past, providing a glimpse into a complex and organized society that predates our previous understanding of ancient Amazonian cultures.