The archaeological site found in Ecuador contains more than 6,000 rectangular earth platforms, plaza structures and mounds linked together by a vast network of roads in an area of 300 square kilometers.
A complex network of pre-Hispanic structures and pathways has been detected using airborne laser remote sensing (lidar) hidden beneath the canopy of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador.
At 2,500 years old, it is the oldest (and largest) example of agricultural civilization ever recorded in the dense rainforest of South America.
Archaeologists studied the Upano Valley site, located along a stretch of the Upper Amazon Ecuador, for several decades. However, according to a study published in the journal Science, it was only when they began observing the terrain with an airborne lidar system that they began to reveal complex structures hidden beneath the vegetation.
Photograph provided today by the research director of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), archaeologist Stéphen Rostain, showing people working during a large-scale archaeological excavation on an earth platform at the Sangay site in the Upano Valley in Ecuador. Source: EFE
“I explored the site many times, but the lidar gave me another view of the earth,” the study’s lead author, Stéphen Rostain, an archaeologist and research director at the French National Center for scientific research (CNRS). “On foot there are trees in the road and it’s hard to see what’s really hiding there.”
According to the study, archaeological excavations have shown that the site, which covers around 600 square kilometres, was occupied from around 500 BC to 300 and 600 AD.
Kilamope and Upano civilizations
The researchers used lidar to assess half of the vast site, built by members of the pre-Hispanic Kilamope and Upano cultures, two sedentary agricultural societies that once occupied the valley. According to the study, after a “pause”, some settlements were occupied by the Huapula culture.
Photograph provided today by the research director of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), archaeologist Stéphen Rostain, showing people working during a large-scale archaeological excavation on an earth platform at the Sangay site in the Upano Valley in Ecuador. Source: EFE
Lidar imagery showed that the site contained more than 6,000 rectangular earth platforms, plaza structures and mounds interconnected across a vast network of straight roads and paths.
“The roads not only ran right through the site, but also led off the site,” Rostain said. “All these roads worked together and were used to connect the community.”
The researchers also discovered clusters of nearly 15 “distinct” settlement sites that varied in size and number of structures, according to a statement.
Photograph provided today by the research director of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), archaeologist Stéphen Rostain, showing people working during a large-scale archaeological excavation on an earth platform at the Sangay site in the Upano Valley in Ecuador. Source: EFE
Some of these settlements also had “enormous mounds” that stretched up to 150 meters long and 8 meters high, Rostain said, adding that “it’s impressive” how elaborate the site is both in the variety of construction and the enormity of some structures. the structures.
Due to its large size and complexity, the site “resembles similar Maya urban systems in Central America.” “Such a discovery is another vivid example of the underestimation of the dual heritage of the Amazon: environmental but also cultural and therefore indigenous,” the study authors wrote in their article. “…we believe that it is essential to thoroughly review our preconceived ideas about the Amazonian world and, in doing so, reinterpret contexts and concepts in the necessary light of an inclusive and participatory science.” (With information from Europa Press)
Photograph provided today by the research director of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), archaeologist Stéphen Rostain, showing researchers working during a large-scale archaeological excavation on an earth platform at the Sangay site in the Valley of ‘Upano in Ecuador. Source: EFE
2024-01-12 14:20:36
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