'Completely Transformed My Understanding': Scientists Uncover Hundreds of Hidden Structures Beneath The Amazon

Key Points:

• A new LIDAR survey reveals that the ancient Aquiry civilization in southwestern Amazonia, active between 600 BCE and 850 CE, was much larger than previously thought, with up to 30,000 earthworks and a peak population of around 3 million people around 200 CE.
• The Aquiry were a network of communities connected by shared traditions, known for creating monumental geometric earthworks linked by straight roads, which likely served as ceremonial and political gathering places.
• The LIDAR technology allowed researchers to uncover 432 earthworks in a small surveyed area, suggesting that other parts of the Amazon may have been densely populated and heavily modified by humans, challenging the idea of the rainforest as untouched wilderness.
• At its height, the Aquiry civilization likely managed a landscape of clearings with large wooden longhouses, cultivated fields, and managed forests, reflecting sophisticated land stewardship over centuries.
• Despite these discoveries, many questions remain, particularly about the civilization’s disappearance around 850-1000 CE, leaving much of the Aquiry’s history still to be uncovered.