Archaeologists Discover Ancient Cities Hidden in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Laser imaging has revealed an extensive network of settlements and roads that challenge historical understandings of the area

Sonja Anderson
Daily Correspondent



The area was surveyed using lidar technology, which revealed a large-scale network of roads and platforms. Antoine Dorison, Stéphen Rostain


Using laser scanning technology, researchers have found traces of 2,500-year-old cities in the Amazon rainforest. Complete with a complex network of farmland and roads, the discovery is the oldest and largest of its kind in the region.

Located in Ecuador’s Upano Valley, the dense system of pre-Hispanic structures lies in the eastern foothills of the Andes mountains, according to a study published yesterday in the journal Science. Over 20 years of research preempted the find, but it wasn’t until the Ecuadorian government employed lidar—a remote sensing technology that surveys a landscape using lasers—that the ancient urban centers came to light.

“I have explored the site many times, but lidar gave me another view of the land,” archaeologist Stéphen Rostain, lead author of the study and director of research at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), tells Live Science’s Jennifer Nalewicki. “On foot, you have trees in the way, and it’s difficult to see what's actually hidden there.”

Rostain knew from his many ground expeditions that laser imaging would reveal new structures, but he hadn’t predicted the scale of the results, reports Science News’ Amanda Heidt. Covering roughly 300 square kilometers (more than 100 square miles), images from the lidar survey revealed a landscape full of organized human activities: These included more than 6,000 rectangular earthen platforms, as well as agricultural terraces and drainage systems.



Researchers found rectangular platforms along the bed of the Upano River in Ecuador. Stéphen Rostain

More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-ancient-city-has-been-hidden-in-the-amazon-for-2500-years-180983587/