The mystery of lost civilizations in America

The Amazon is a real treasure for biodiversity and for history. Its dense forests, caudalosos rivers and exuberant vegetation, which resists forestry and fires, as recent investigations have revealed also hide secrets.

Two studies carried out in Ecuador and Brazil could be decisive to rewrite the history of a wide region where hundreds of aboriginal communities still live.

Thanks to an advanced technology, remains of cities built by former civilizations or European settlers have been discovered.

The studies revealed that the jungle, over the centuries, hid under vegetation constructions of about 2,500 years ago, in the case of Ecuador, and of the 18th century, in the case of Brazil.

According to article published by the BBC At the beginning of 2024, in the Upano region (Ecuador), the teacher Stephen RostainResearch Director of the National Center for Scientific Research in France, found remains of an ancient aboriginal city.

“The city was built about 2,500 years ago and, according to archaeologists, people lived there until about 1,000 years ago. It is difficult to estimate precisely how many people lived there at a given time, but scientists say that there were certainly 10,000, if not 100,000, ”says the BBC.

Archaeologists combined land excavations with a study carried out on an area of ​​300 square kilometers by laser sensors that could identify remains of the city under the dense plants and trees.

This technology, called Lidar, found 6,000 rectangular platforms of 20×10 my between 2 and 3 m high.

The platforms were in three to six units around a place with a central platform. Scientists believe that many were homes, but some would have had ceremonial ends. A network of straight roads and trails connected many of the platforms, including one that extended 25 kilometers.

In the platforms, the researchers found pits, homes, jars, stones to grind burned plants and seeds.

The Kmamope and Upano peoples They lived there probably focused mainly on agriculture.

An article by National Geographicpublished at the end of 2024, says that “during the Portuguese colonization, between the 16th and 19th centuries, numerous colonies were founded in the heart of the Amazon jungle. When the country proclaimed its independence in 1822, Many of these settlements were abandoned and fell forever in oblivion”

A group of researchers from the Amazônia project revealed and the University of San Pablo identified, in the state of Rondonia, ruins of one of these colonies, built and abandoned in the 18th century and had been forgotten and covered by vegetation.

“The finding was possible thanks to the use of lidara laser measurement technology that allows you to discover many lost cities.

The advantage of this system is that it crosses the vegetation cover and performs very precise 3D mapping of the surfaces underneath, making it possible to locate urban sets that have been engulfed by vegetation and that are invisible to the naked eye ” Explains National Geographic.