Researchers have used a laser-based remote sensing method known as LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) to uncover what they describe as a "mindblowing" network of pre-Columbian lost urban centers in the Llanos de Mojos savanna forest in Bolivia, which is in the southwest corner of the Amazon Basin. While stories of cities deep in the Amazon, including possibly the fabled city of El Dorado, have been told for centuries, this discovery marks the first clear evidence that there were urban societies in this part of the Amazon Basin.
Moreover, the discovery suggests that the Amazon’s rainforest was actually relatively heavily populated, and in places quite urbanized, centuries before the recorded history of the region began.
The researchers believe that the Casarabe Culture (500-1400 C.E.) was responsible for these lost cities, which feature 16' tall terraces covering roughly 54 acres, on which civic/ceremonial U-shaped platform mounds as well as a number of conical earthen pyramids all about 70' tall. Jose Iriarte, an archeologist and archaeobotanist at the University of Exeter, said that these cities and towns were interconnected by 600 miles of canals and raised causeways. Nothing else even remotely like this has been found in the Amazon before.
The Casarabe decided that rather than constructing huge densely packed cities, to instead spread out in a network of smaller settlements which incorporated sufficient open space for farming. Apparently, the inhabitants transformed an area roughly the size of England into productive agricultural and aquacultural landscapes.
The paper, Lidar reveals pre-Hispanic low-density urbanism in the Bolivian Amazon can be read by clicking the hyperlink, and the Abstract is posted below
And of course, some images
Moreover, the discovery suggests that the Amazon’s rainforest was actually relatively heavily populated, and in places quite urbanized, centuries before the recorded history of the region began.
The researchers believe that the Casarabe Culture (500-1400 C.E.) was responsible for these lost cities, which feature 16' tall terraces covering roughly 54 acres, on which civic/ceremonial U-shaped platform mounds as well as a number of conical earthen pyramids all about 70' tall. Jose Iriarte, an archeologist and archaeobotanist at the University of Exeter, said that these cities and towns were interconnected by 600 miles of canals and raised causeways. Nothing else even remotely like this has been found in the Amazon before.
The Casarabe decided that rather than constructing huge densely packed cities, to instead spread out in a network of smaller settlements which incorporated sufficient open space for farming. Apparently, the inhabitants transformed an area roughly the size of England into productive agricultural and aquacultural landscapes.
The paper, Lidar reveals pre-Hispanic low-density urbanism in the Bolivian Amazon can be read by clicking the hyperlink, and the Abstract is posted below
Abstract
Archaeological remains of agrarian-based, low-density urbananism1,2,3 have been reported to exist beneath the tropical forests of Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka and Central America4,5,6. However, beyond some large interconnected settlements in southern Amazonia7,8,9, there has been no such evidence for pre-Hispanic Amazonia. Here we present lidar data of sites belonging to the Casarabe culture (around AD 500 to AD 1400)10,11,12,13 in the Llanos de Mojos savannah–forest mosaic, southwest Amazonia, revealing the presence of two remarkably large sites (147 ha and 315 ha) in a dense four-tiered settlement system. The Casarabe culture area, as far as known today, spans approximately 4,500 km2, with one of the large settlement sites controlling an area of approximately 500 km2. The civic-ceremonial architecture of these large settlement sites includes stepped platforms, on top of which lie U-shaped structures, rectangular platform mounds and conical pyramids (which are up to 22 m tall). The large settlement sites are surrounded by ranked concentric polygonal banks and represent central nodes that are connected to lower-ranked sites by straight, raised causeways that stretch over several kilometres. Massive water-management infrastructure, composed of canals and reservoirs, complete the settlement system in an anthropogenically modified landscape. Our results indicate that the Casarabe-culture settlement pattern represents a type of tropical low-density urbanism that has not previously been described in Amazonia.
Archaeological remains of agrarian-based, low-density urbananism1,2,3 have been reported to exist beneath the tropical forests of Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka and Central America4,5,6. However, beyond some large interconnected settlements in southern Amazonia7,8,9, there has been no such evidence for pre-Hispanic Amazonia. Here we present lidar data of sites belonging to the Casarabe culture (around AD 500 to AD 1400)10,11,12,13 in the Llanos de Mojos savannah–forest mosaic, southwest Amazonia, revealing the presence of two remarkably large sites (147 ha and 315 ha) in a dense four-tiered settlement system. The Casarabe culture area, as far as known today, spans approximately 4,500 km2, with one of the large settlement sites controlling an area of approximately 500 km2. The civic-ceremonial architecture of these large settlement sites includes stepped platforms, on top of which lie U-shaped structures, rectangular platform mounds and conical pyramids (which are up to 22 m tall). The large settlement sites are surrounded by ranked concentric polygonal banks and represent central nodes that are connected to lower-ranked sites by straight, raised causeways that stretch over several kilometres. Massive water-management infrastructure, composed of canals and reservoirs, complete the settlement system in an anthropogenically modified landscape. Our results indicate that the Casarabe-culture settlement pattern represents a type of tropical low-density urbanism that has not previously been described in Amazonia.
And of course, some images
locator-map-4091021.jpg
f215b098-c8ad-4a15-8846-885966c00b9a.jpg
Lidar coverage is marked by the grey areas (A–F). Black triangles represent settlement sites of the Casarabe culture
that have platform mound architecture. The topographical layer is based on TanDEM-X DEM 12-m data.
f215b098-c8ad-4a15-8846-885966c00b9a.jpg
Lidar coverage is marked by the grey areas (A–F). Black triangles represent settlement sites of the Casarabe culture
that have platform mound architecture. The topographical layer is based on TanDEM-X DEM 12-m data.
Comment