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Once Hidden by Forest, Carvings in Land Attest to Amazon’s Lost World
The New York Times ^ | 14 Jan 2012 | SIMON ROMERO

Posted on 01/16/2012 9:06:28 AM PST by Theoria

Edmar Araújo still remembers the awe.

As he cleared trees on his family’s land decades ago near Rio Branco, an outpost in the far western reaches of the Brazilian Amazon, a series of deep earthen avenues carved into the soil came into focus.

“These lines were too perfect not to have been made by man,” said Mr. Araújo, a 62-year-old cattleman. “The only explanation I had was that they must have been trenches for the war against the Bolivians.”

But these were no foxholes, at least not for any conflict waged here at the dawn of the 20th century. According to stunning archaeological discoveries here in recent years, the earthworks on Mr. Araújo’s land and hundreds like them nearby are much, much older — potentially upending the conventional understanding of the world’s largest tropical rain forest.

The deforestation that has stripped the Amazon since the 1970s has also exposed a long-hidden secret lurking underneath thick rain forest: flawlessly designed geometric shapes spanning hundreds of yards in diameter.

Alceu Ranzi, a Brazilian scholar who helped discover the squares, octagons, circles, rectangles and ovals that make up the land carvings, said these geoglyphs found on deforested land were as significant as the famous Nazca lines, the enigmatic animal symbols visible from the air in southern Peru.

“What impressed me the most about these geoglyphs was their geometric precision, and how they emerged from forest we had all been taught was untouched except by a few nomadic tribes,” said Mr. Ranzi, a paleontologist who first saw the geoglyphs in the 1970s and, years later, surveyed them by plane.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: amazon; brazil; godsgravesglyphs; precolumbus
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1 posted on 01/16/2012 9:06:42 AM PST by Theoria
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To: SunkenCiv

Mann, Z, etc.


2 posted on 01/16/2012 9:07:19 AM PST by Theoria
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To: Theoria

““If one wants to recreate pre-Columbian Amazonia, most of the forest needs to be removed, with many people and a managed, highly productive landscape replacing it,” said William Woods, a geographer at the University of Kansas who is part of a team studying the Acre geoglyphs.

“I know that this will not sit well with ardent environmentalists,” Mr. Woods said, “but what else can one say?”


3 posted on 01/16/2012 9:18:15 AM PST by icwhatudo ("laws requiring compulsory abortion could be sustained under the constitution"-Obama official)
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To: Theoria

1493 and all that.


4 posted on 01/16/2012 9:40:41 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Theoria

Landscapes change.

When my ancestors came to this county in 1889 there were NO TREES. Now much of it is covered by mesquite and other types of trees.

When they came it was all prairie grass. They broke out the grass covered land for the first time. There were no towns. There was no timber to build a home. They lived in Dugouts for a number of years. The little timber that was used in the construction was brought in by wagon.

They were a hardy and independent lot. They came here to be left alone and live their lives in peace. That is all we want today.


5 posted on 01/16/2012 9:41:24 AM PST by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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To: Theoria; SunkenCiv

ping


6 posted on 01/16/2012 9:48:21 AM PST by esquirette ("Our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee." ~ Augustine)
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To: Texas Fossil
My great grandparents took pictures of the area in West Texas they settled in in 1904 in the 1920's. there still were few if any mesquite trees then and the only other trees were native pecans and coottonwoods along the few running creek banks.

Mexican cattle poop planted the mesquite trees.

7 posted on 01/16/2012 9:56:56 AM PST by nuke rocketeer (File CONGRESS.SYS corrupted: Re-boot Washington D.C (Y/N)?)
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To: Theoria

There is very little land in S. America that hasn’t been changed and molded by the hand of man for his own purposes.


8 posted on 01/16/2012 10:10:34 AM PST by DManA
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9 posted on 01/16/2012 10:22:49 AM PST by TheOldLady (FReepmail me to get ON or OFF the ZOT LIGHTNING ping list)
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To: Theoria

Mann’s book 1491 referenced in the article is excellent. I recommend it.


10 posted on 01/16/2012 10:30:02 AM PST by DManA
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To: Theoria; esquirette; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; ...

 GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach
Thanks Theoria and esquirette.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.


11 posted on 01/16/2012 10:31:23 AM PST by SunkenCiv (FReep this FReepathon!)
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12 posted on 01/16/2012 10:32:11 AM PST by SunkenCiv (FReep this FReepathon!)
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To: Texas Fossil
They came here to be left alone and live their lives in peace. That is all we want today.

Good luck with that. </Spongebob>

13 posted on 01/16/2012 10:36:32 AM PST by null and void (Day 1089 of America's ObamaVacation from reality [Heroes aren't made, Frank, they're cornered...])
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To: nuke rocketeer
Mexican cattle poop planted the mesquite trees.

I'm calling BS on that one...

14 posted on 01/16/2012 10:38:09 AM PST by null and void (Day 1089 of America's ObamaVacation from reality [Heroes aren't made, Frank, they're cornered...])
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To: nuke rocketeer; Texas Fossil

Well then - you guys would get a kick out of the “environmentalists” - “protecting” the natural state of areas in California.

They are desertified now - due to overlogging for the silver industry. What were pine forests are now desert.

And the left - passes laws - to keep it in its “natural state” of desert.

Stupid is as stupid does.


15 posted on 01/16/2012 10:56:44 AM PST by Eldon Tyrell (question,.)
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To: null and void; nuke rocketeer; Eldon Tyrell
Spanish Texas

"The Spanish left a deep mark on Texas. Their European livestock caused mesquite to spread inland while farmers tilled and irrigated the land, changing the landscape forever."

16 posted on 01/16/2012 11:53:58 AM PST by blam
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To: Eldon Tyrell
Stupid is as stupid does.

That says it all. Just like fining the oil companies for not using a non-existent additive.

17 posted on 01/16/2012 12:01:58 PM PST by nuke rocketeer (File CONGRESS.SYS corrupted: Re-boot Washington D.C (Y/N)?)
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To: null and void

The cattle ate mesquite beans as they passed through Northern Mexico and crapped the beans out in South Texas after digesting the hull. The trees slowly spread throughout the state in this fashion all through the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries.


18 posted on 01/16/2012 12:05:16 PM PST by nuke rocketeer (File CONGRESS.SYS corrupted: Re-boot Washington D.C (Y/N)?)
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To: blam

cattle poop, BS, uh...


19 posted on 01/16/2012 12:06:20 PM PST by null and void (Day 1089 of America's ObamaVacation from reality [Heroes aren't made, Frank, they're cornered...])
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To: nuke rocketeer

It’s still BS, isn’t it?

(OK, only half, the other half is CS)...


20 posted on 01/16/2012 12:07:53 PM PST by null and void (Day 1089 of America's ObamaVacation from reality [Heroes aren't made, Frank, they're cornered...])
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