![]() ![]() The model estimated that there are likely more than 10,000 and possibly more than 23,000 earthworks lurking beneath the Amazon’s canopy. The researchers further narrowed down the list of possible hidden sites using tree survey data from 1,676 forest plots, looking for appearances of any of the 79 species that were known to be domesticated and cultivated by pre-Columbian cultures. So the scientists also mapped 937 known earthworks, instructing the model to highlight locations for potential earthworks that shared similar topographic features with previously detected sites. To accurately predict how many more unseen earthworks might exist, the team’s computer model needed a lot more data. “But since the extent of the Amazon is so big, we can’t just fly lidar over everything,” Peripato said. The area covered by lidar represented just 0.08% of the Amazon rainforest, which spans approximately 2.6 million square miles (6.7 million square kilometers). These sites included a town with a plaza and a fortified village in the south megalithic structures in the north and rectangular and circular shapes, or geoglyphs, in the southwest. WATCH: Amazon tribes are using drones to track deforestation in BrazilĪnalysis of the lidar data revealed 24 previously unknown earthworks in spots scattered across the Amazon basin. “It was kind of a gamble that fortunately paid off.” “Initially, we were not sure if we would find anything,” Peripato said. The scans were originally conducted to estimate rainforest biomass, so the resolution was lower than is typical for archaeological surveys. ![]() Vinicius PeripatoĪt first, the authors weren’t sure whether the available lidar data would be useful for their project, Peripato told CNN. What follows is the terrain slope hillshade, which recreates the sun's effects to depict the topography more clearly and elevation of an earthworks cluster. The first (from top) is the lidar point cloud colored by its height. Shown are lidar data outputs for investigating earthworks beneath the Amazon's forest canopy. These findings further demonstrate that the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples in the Americas and elsewhere is “remarkably dynamic and innovative,” he added. “The conclusions are not surprising, but follow a trend in Amazonian studies to increase the scale, density and impact of human occupations on the Amazon forest,” Heckenberger told CNN in an email. Heckenberger, who was not involved in the study, has conducted research in the Brazilian Amazon since the 1990s, working with indigenous peoples of the Xingu region. Michael Heckenberger, a professor of anthropology at the University of Florida. The new study incorporated the efforts of 160 researchers and data collected over 80 years, combining lidar and records of Amazonian tree distribution in predictive models that estimated where unknown earthworks might be found.Ī notable aspect of the work is that it contributes to an emerging consensus that the Amazon “is far from pristine wilderness,” and that “Amazonian Indigenous history is as rich and dynamic as elsewhere,” said Dr. The study authors also evaluated decades of data recording tree species across the Amazon, searching for signs of species known to be managed and domesticated by pre-Columbian peoples. Peripatos is lead author of a study documenting the discoveries, published October 5 in the journal Science. “Lidar is really essential to confirm the presence of the structures, especially beneath the forest,” said geographer Vinicius Peripato, a researcher at Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research in São Paulo. When the light rebounds, it’s combined with other data to generate 3D maps of the landscape below. This aerial technique pings the ground with laser pulses, measuring variations in distances to the ground. To find them, scientists reviewed scans of terrain made with a remote sensing method called light detection and ranging, or lidar. But researchers suspected that there were even more such sites that are all but invisible today, concealed under dense foliage. Many Amazonian earthworks that predate the arrival of European colonizers are revealed in deforested areas. Known as earthworks, they were shaped by indigenous peoples who lived in the area around 500 to 1,500 years ago.Įarthworks have been linked to ceremonial and defensive uses, and they offer a glimpse of what ancient settlements may have looked like. They are preserved as ditches, paths and wells, sometimes forming geometric patterns. In the ground far below the treetops are ancient, long-hidden remnants of human habitation. ![]() Laser mapping reveals a forgotten Maya city in the jungleĪcross the Amazon basin, rainforests spread their leafy boughs over millions of kilometers.
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