Amazon's Ancient Earthly Secrets Revealed

Archaeologists have unearthed hundreds of monumental geometric earthworks in the southwestern Amazon, dating back as far as 600 B.C. Using advanced lidar technology to penetrate the dense rainforest canopy, researchers mapped out intricate designs such as circles and squares, some connected by roads.

These geoglyphs, shaped by embankments and ditches and spanning up to 120 acres, suggest the presence of complex societies in the region a millennium before European colonization. The findings contradict the historical view of the Amazon as a largely untouched wilderness before the 15th century.

Scholars attribute these structures to an ancient society known as the Aquiry, believed to have used these ceremonial centers for festivities, political events, and ceremonies. At their peak, these societies may have supported populations of up to three million people in the region.

This new evidence supports earlier accounts from the 16th century that described densely populated Amazonian regions, which had largely been dismissed. However, the ongoing threat of deforestation for agriculture poses a significant risk to the preservation of these ancient sites.