Ancient cities and roads of the Amazon mapped

Fieldwork and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) analysis have revealed a manmade landscape in the Upano Valley of Amazonian Ecuador. The researchers’ report describes more than 6000 earthen platforms and plazas distributed in a geometric pattern connected by roads and interlinked with agricultural landscapes and river drainages. Stéphen Rostain, a research professor at France’s Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) who directed the study, said: “We discovered that there weren’t just hundreds of human-made platforms in the Upano Valley, but thousands. The data, which was collected over an area of 600 square kilometres, also provided us with a comprehensive map of anthropogenic changes.” The Upano Valley is located in the Amazonian section of the foothills of the Andes. Archaeological excavations date its occupation from around 500 BC to AD…

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Ancient History (Digital) - 1 Issue, AH 49

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