Archaeologists discover 2500-year ancient city hidden in Amazon rainforest
An incredible ancient city has been unearthed deep within the Amazon rainforest, concealed by dense vegetation for centuries.
This groundbreaking discovery is set to transform all understanding of the historical inhabitants of the Amazon region.
The residential dwellings and public squares in the Upano area of eastern Ecuador were intricately linked by an impressive network of roads and canals.
This region rests in the shadow of a volcano, which not only enriched the local soils but also may have contributed to the downfall of the civilization.
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While existing knowledge pointed to the presence of cities in the highlands of South America, like Peru’s renowned Machu Picchu, it was previously assumed that people in the Amazon lived either as nomads or in small, scattered settlements.
“This is older than any other site we know in the Amazon. We have a Eurocentric view of civilisation, but this shows we have to change our idea about what is culture and civilisation,” says Professor Stephen Rostain, director of investigation at the National Centre for Scientific Research in France, who led the research.
“It changes the way we see Amazonian cultures. Most people picture small groups, probably naked, living in huts and clearing land – this shows ancient people lived in complicated urban societies,” says co-author Antoine Dorison.
The city was built around 2,500 years ago, and people lived there for up to 1,000 years, according to archaeologists.
It is difficult to accurately estimate how many people lived there at any one time, but scientists say it is certainly in the 10,000s if not 100,000s.
The archaeologists combined ground excavations with a survey of a 300 sq km (116 sq mile) area using laser sensors flown on a plane that could identify remains of the city beneath the dense plants and trees.
