A LIDAR image unveils roads and platforms located in the Kunguints site in Ecuador's Upano valley. (Image Credit: ANTOINE DORISON AND STÉPHEN ROSTAIN)
Scientists discovered a group of lost cities in the Ecuador valley of the Amazon rainforest, home to 20,000 farmers 2,500 years ago. Over twenty years ago, archaeologist Stéphen Rostain first found mounds and hidden roads in Ecuador, and that effort contributed to this recent finding. The Upano people called these settlements home between 500 BC and 300-600 AD, occurring at the same time as the Roman Empire.
Archaeologists in this study used ground excavations and a 115 square-mile LIDAR survey to help identify the lost city's remains underneath the plants and trees. With this technology, the team identified five large settlements and ten smaller-sized ones. LIDAR uses laser pulses of light with different wavelengths to determine how far a ground object is from the aircraft carrying the light sensors. This produces a 3D map with all the features buried under vegetation.
By doing so, they mapped streets, platforms, and plazas. These interweave with terraces, drainage, and lengthy roads connecting urban sites. Some of those roads measured 33 feet wide with a length of 6 to 12 miles. LIDAR tech unveiled that those plazas were surrounded by 6,000 rectangular platforms, and they're designed for ceremonial or residential spaces. Inside each platform, the archaeologists discovered hearths, pits, and artifacts like jars and stones used for grinding plants. The 2,500-year-old cities had an estimated 10,000 people (15,000 or 30,000 peak population) living there for 1,000 years.
Archaeologists say that an organized labor system would have been needed to construct the earthen mounds and roads. All those roads connecting to the Upano sites indicate everything existed simultaneously. They're 1,000 years older than other Amazon societies, like Lianos de Mojos — a Bolivian-based ancient urban system.
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