Lidar technology reveals ancient large-scale urban networks in the Bolivian Amazon
In short: Researchers using Lidar technology have uncovered evidence of a complex, low-density urban system in the Bolivian Amazon. By scanning through dense tropical forests, the team identified massive settlement sites belonging to the Casarabe culture, which existed between approximately AD 500 and AD 1400.
The study identified two remarkably large sites, measuring 147 ha and 315 ha, part of a four-tiered settlement system. The landscape featured civic-ceremonial architecture, including conical pyramids up to 22 m tall, and massive water-management infrastructure like canals and reservoirs. This discovery suggests a type of tropical urbanism previously undocumented in this region of Amazonia, though the findings are based on remote sensing data of the landscape.
This discovery adds to the known history of Amazonian civilizations by revealing a highly organized, anthropogenally modified landscape that was previously hidden by forest cover.
Why it matters: Ancient Amazonian societies were much more urbanized and organized than previously thought.
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Sources
- Source: Research: Prumers et al. (2022). Lidar reveals pre-Hispanic low-density urbanism in the Bolivian Amazon. Nature. · cc-by
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