Earlier on FR...
Posted on 01/20/2024 7:22:24 PM PST by Red Badger
With the deployment of airborne laser sensors as well as more traditional excavation techniques, archeologists have discovered evidence of a massive and sophisticated lost city in the dense Amazon rain forest region of eastern Ecuador in the Andes foothills.
Lead researcher Stephen Rostain of the National Center for Scientific Research in France told the BBC, “This is older than any other site we know in the Amazon. We have a Eurocentric view of civilization, but this shows we have to change our idea about what is culture and civilization.”
According to the survey of about 200 miles in the Amazon, the city — or network of “garden cities” — was built about 2,500 years ago and lasted for about 1,000 years, apparently rivaling Mayan sites in Mexico and Central America.
Rostain’s colleague Antoine Dorison explained to the BBC that the discovery “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.”
The stunning finding in Ecuador’s Upano Valley, which was historically assumed to be sparsely populated, suggests that experts are perhaps only scratching the surface when it comes to the size, scope and structure of ancient civilizations.
The city which was heretofore hidden by jungle thicket could hardly be characterized as primitive.
For ScienceNews, Rostain described it as “‘an entirely human-engineered landscape’ built by skilled urban planners.”
University of Florida anthropology professor Michael Heckenberger seemed to agree.
“This shows an unprecedented degree of complexity and density of settlement for this early time frame,” he told NewScientist.
At this point, archeologists have yet to determine what happened to the Upano people who constructed five major settlements in the area. One theory is that volcano eruptions may be why the area might have been abandoned.
Among other things, archeologists intended next to try to figure out the size of the population when the area was inhabited.
Estimates range from the tens of thousands to possibly hundreds of thousands, the BBC reported.
They also plan to survey an adjoining 100-plus mile area in the valley.
Indeed, there is still much that remains unknown about the full history of the Americas.
Advances in specialized know-how could lead to more discoveries of lost cities that could challenge what has become known as settled science.
For example, the deployment of remote laser technology known as Lidar (for Light Detection and Ranging) enabled this newest discovery.
The study by the Rostain team was published in a recent issue of Science.
“Fieldwork and [Lidar] analysis have revealed an anthropized landscape with clusters of monumental platforms, plazas, and streets following a specific pattern intertwined with extensive agricultural drainages and terraces as well as wide straight roads running over great distances,” the abstract of the scholarly journal article detailed.
“The most notable landscape feature is the complex road system extending over tens of kilometers, connecting the different urban centers, thus creating a regional-scale network. Such extensive early development in the Upper Amazon is comparable to similar Maya urban systems recently highlighted in Mexico and Guatemala,” the abstract concluded.
It’s cool. But when I hear “American history”, my mind doesn’t go to the Amazon River. Although, technically is in in an American continent.
Gives one pause about the stories of Nephites and Laminites.
What about "HS"? (Human sacrifice)
Never trust plants. Plants have a long history of doing this sort of thing.
Maybe they were an advanced civilization before going woke....and then going broke.
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And then ceasing to exist.
The civilizations in the middle east precede that one by at least 1500 years.
Yep “urban planners”, give me a physical break! How about slave driving, bloodthirsty, pagan tyrants?
Come on man, it was clearly climate change!
Socialism and DEI wiped out another civilization.
Hahahahahahahaha!
No kidding!
“We have a Eurocentric view of civilization, but this shows we have to change our idea about what is culture and civilization.”
This moron thought that before he knew anything about this super awesomely complex city.
“But they say we’ll have to abandon our “Eurocentric” view of history?”
Yes. Our “Eurocentric” view of history has always lauded previous non-European civilizations.
And if one is buried in jungle growth and it takes modern sensors to find it, that does not mean an “Eurocentric” view of history covered it over.
A few years ago, I bought a much heralded biography of Andrew Jackson. Opened it and was astonished to see that it was written from the viewpoint that Jackson was a white supremacist. I put it down and never finished it.
It turns out that Jackson wanted to perpetuate the American people, and that is now considered racist.
Not too surprising that it is in that area. America around the equator has a great climate, you can grow a lot of stuff year round very quickly. Daylight is the same year round, temps 75 at night 90 during the day, plenty of rain. An ocean nearby helps when you need fish.
CLIMATE CHANGE!
Thousands of years ago the Sahara was a grain growing meadow land before it became desert. Maybe the SA jungle was the same for a while.
Hey, you never can tell!
I wa5ched a Josh hates expedition once where they used Arial lidar which uncovered hidden myan or aztec cities that you couldn’t see when standing on the ground. Apparently there are vast cities hidden by the jungle vegetation- and they haven’t even scra5ched the surface yet- a lot remains to be uncovered
Jimmah was an alien, that’s why
Hasn’t American History been rewritten already?
So skilled that their “civilization” got overtaken by plants?
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