Lost City Unveiled Deep Within the Amazon Rainforest
Archaeologists have uncovered a hidden colonial town from long ago. Amazon a rainforest with origins tracing back to the 1700s.
According to Eduardo Neves, the director of the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography at the University of São Paulo, who headed the research group, the Portuguese colony had been depicted on certain maps before; however, its precise position remained unidentified.
"The site had been deserted, with the jungle reclaiming it, and many of the stones had been taken away... We managed to map out the street plan of this city, which turned out to be quite an intriguing find," Neves stated according to reports from Brazilian media outlets. Metrópoles .
Brazil’s colonization started in 1500 when Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral declared the territory as part of Portugal. Throughout the subsequent three hundred years, Portugal set up a colonial government structure aimed at extracting Brazil’s abundant resources such as sugar, gold, and coffee using slave labor predominantly brought over from Africa.
The settlement developed into a significant economic boon for Portugal; however, in the early 1800s, led by Prince Dom Pedro I, Brazil proclaimed its autonomy, concluding more than three centuries of colonial domination.
The uncovering of the colonial settlement within the Amazon was announced during an event organized by the Amazon Museum in Manaus, which is part of the Amazônia Revelada initiative.
The objective of this initiative is to locate archaeological sites across various regions of the Amazon by integrating advanced technologies with the indigenous people’s traditional wisdom about the forests.
"We aim to register these archaeological sites so they become part of our heritage and establish an extra level of protection for these areas," stated Neves, who is one of the project coordinators, in a press release from the Brazilian Socio-Environmental Institute, which is backing the initiative.
The initiative will encompass two synergistic approaches. The initial one involves utilizing LIDAR technology to conduct a survey of the rainforest aiming to uncover concealed archaeological sites beneath the foliage.
LIDAR is a technique for remote sensing that utilizes laser pulses directed towards the earth to create three-dimensional representations of landscapes. It allows for mapping the terrain’s shape and uncovering concealed artificial structures that might typically remain unseen.
Essentially, LIDAR enables scientists to penetrate the forest canopy and generate comprehensive 3D models of the terrain features, uncovering any hidden structures beneath the surface.
The second key aspect of the Amazônia Revelada initiative entails surveys carried out by local investigators, who belong to the Indigenous and traditional populations residing within these regions. These investigators will document archaeological locations or areas important to their communities.
The Amazon area has been occupied for at least 11,000 to 12,000 years; however, ancient relics suggest the presence of inhabitants might date back as far as 13,000 years ago or possibly longer.
Before Europeans arrived, indigenous populations in the Amazon established intricate civilizations characterized by sizable, permanent settlements, advanced farming methods, and refined strategies for managing their environment.
Previously, LIDAR technology has been employed to uncover concealed archaeological sites in the Amazon.
A study released the previous year in the journal Science , for instance, reported the finding of two dozen ancient constructions concealed under the foliage in the Amazon rainforest basin.
The earthworks were constructed during the pre-Columbian era—which refers to the time before European colonization began. These formations stand as leftovers from various sites and buildings created by early Native American populations.
The newly discovered earthworks encompass remnants of a town, fortified settlements; defensive and ceremonial structures referred to as geoglyphs; along with riverbank locations on floodplains that might have served for collecting aquatic resources; plus various other architectural features, as stated in the research paper.
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