Scientists find ancient lost settlements in Amazon

Reuters ^ | Aug 28, 2008 | Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Maggie Fox

[decimon]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A vast region of the Amazon forest in Brazil was home to a complex of ancient towns in which about 50,000 people lived, according to scientists assisted by satellite images of the region.

The scientists, whose findings were published on Thursday in the journal Science, described clusters of towns and smaller villages connected by complex road networks and housing a society doomed by the arrival of Europeans five centuries ago.

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The existence of the ancient settlements in the Upper Xingu region of the Amazon in north-central Brazil means what many experts had considered virgin tropical forests were in fact heavily affected by past human activity, the scientists said.

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[decimon]

That the Amazon forests were managed is not news but the research is ongoing.

[decimon]

Upper Xingo ping.

[LiberConservative]

... a society doomed by the arrival of Europeans five centuries ago.

Shouldn't that read: "a society doomed by the arrival of white Europeans five centuries ago"?

[johnthebaptistmoore]

Amazon.com?

[JerseyHighlander]

Pedro Alvares Cabral arrvied in Brazil with ships with Europeans of Caucasian, Middle Eastern and Negroid descent.

[JimSEA]

Perhaps it would be mor accurate to say, “a society doomed by the arrival of European pathogens five centuries ago.’ That was the true tragedy that no one understood clearly at the time as germs and disease vectors where not known or understood.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Amazon.com?

Might be stacks of unsold Pelosi books.

[pabianice]

I note that almost all articles about South and Central American Paleo Indians omit that they were largely characterized by cannibalism, human sacrifice, slavery, rape of captured women and children, and using human heads as soccer balls. The PCing of anthropology.

[johnthebaptistmoore]

Their main warehouse in California must be HUDGE.

[Publius6961]

Complex indeed.
All that I need to know is that they are all long gone.
About as important and relevant to me as the complexity of a spideweb, or a beaver dam...

[purpleraine]

I note that almost all articles about South and Central American Paleo Indians omit that they were largely characterized by cannibalism, human sacrifice, slavery, rape of captured women and children, and using human heads as soccer balls. ......................Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

[Publius6961]

I note that almost all articles about South and Central American Paleo Indians omit that they were largely characterized by cannibalism, human sacrifice, slavery, rape of captured women and children, and using human heads as soccer balls. The PCing of anthropology.

Well, if you buy into the PC, then you can go ahead and join the "all cultures are equal and relevant to me" club.

Or we can make the other choice and wonder why this is a universal great story and relevant to modern civilization in any way.

I do notice that the clueless are already blaming the "nasty Europeans" for introducing the means to exterminate them --- without an iota of supporting evidence, as usual.

[Tainan]

"I note that almost all articles about South and Central American Paleo Indians omit that they were largely characterized by cannibalism, human sacrifice, slavery, rape of captured women and children, and using human heads as soccer balls."

And that was just on the week-ends!

[rawcatslyentist]

>"cannibalism, human sacrifice, slavery, rape of captured women and children, and using human heads as soccer balls."

Wow, sounds like isSlime beat the Europeans across the ocean.

[Question_Assumptions]

Let me guess. The walls weren’t defensive to help them against violent humans. They were peaceful enclosures to keep their domestic animals and children from accidentally wandering out into the jungle, right?

[SunkenCiv]

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic ·
	Gods Graves Glyphs	Thanks decimon. ...housing a society doomed by the arrival of Europeans five centuries ago... The existence of the ancient settlements in the Upper Xingu region of the Amazon in north-central Brazil means what many experts had considered virgin tropical forests were in fact heavily affected by past human activity, the scientists said. They had to get that shot in about how evil Euros destroyed an indigenous culture that there was no sign anyone outside the Amazon has ever heard of before, prior to getting down to the buried lead, which is that there isn't a pristine piece of land anywhere. :') To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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[A. Patriot]

Scientists find ancient lost settlements in Amazon

I bet. Just like that story about the lost tribe in the Amazon that has never had any contact with the outside world.

[bert]

Isn’t this fairly old neaw? I recall photos with the markings of elaborate irrigation works on a very large scale grid that were published quite some time ago.

[decimon]

Isn’t this fairly old neaw?

I thought of this as an update. I believe blam and maybe some others have posted such articles.

[Fred Nerks]

Prehispanic Raised Field Agriculture: Applied Archaeology in the Bolivian Amazon

Until about 30 years ago, Western academic opinion agreed that the Amazon Basin could never have sustained large populations; due to the limitations of a tropical environment, the area could support only hunting and gathering and slash-and-burn agriculture. Subsequent archaeological research proved this opinion wrong. The savannas and forest of the Bolivian Amazon were, in fact, once densely populated by well-organized societies, and precolumbian farmers heavily modified the landscape.

Prehispanic raised fields in the savannas of the Llanos de Moxos of Bolivia. The elevated planting platforms are 20 meters wide, 0.2-1 meter tall, and up to 600 meters long.

the extent of canalisation and abandoned cultivations on the Bolivian Altiplano around ORURO.