Ecuador has uncovered a massive metropolis hidden by the lush greenery of the Amazon rainforest. According to the BBC, the ancient city of Upano Valley’s dwellings and plazas were linked by a network of roads and canals. According to the outlet, the area is in the shadow of a volcano, which has developed rich local soils. LiDAR, a popular remote sensing method that employs light to measure distances and is also known as laser scanning or 3D scanning, was used to make the discovery.
“This is older than any other site we know in the Amazon. We have a Eurocentric view of civilization, but this shows we have to change our idea about what is culture and civilization,” Prof Stephen Rostain, director of the investigation at the National Centre for Scientific Research in France, who led the research, told the BBC.
“It changes the way we see Amazonian cultures. Most people picture small groups, probably naked, living in huts and clearing land – this shows ancient people lived in complicated urban societies,” Antoine Dorison, a co-author of the study, said.
According to New Scientist, the city is between 3,000 and 1,500 years old, making it older than other pre-Columbian cities unearthed in the Amazon. It was also stated that people could have lived there for up to 1,000 years.
Despite the fact that the LiDAR scan was conducted in 2015, the results were only recently published. It uncovered around 6,000 raised earthen platforms over a 300-square-kilometer area.
According to the report, these are the locations of former wooden dwellings, and excavations have uncovered post holes and fireplaces on these structures.
According to the research team, the area surveyed has five significant communities. Concerning the road network, the survey indicated that the longest one is at least 25 kilometers long.