The hidden ancient mega-cities of the Amazon are finally revealing their secrets
Archaeologists are using advanced technology to uncover ancient settlements hidden in the dense jungles of the Amazon
Photo credit: Getty Images
Sandrine Ceurstemont
Published: May 4, 2025 at 4:00 am
When archaeologist Stéphen Rostain first started doing fieldwork in the Amazon rainforest about 40 years ago, there was very little interest in the region.
Archaeologists studying the history of the Americas beftore European colonisation were largely focused on the remains of pyramids and temples built by the ancient Mayas who lived in Mexico and Central America.
It was believed that for the past 2,000 years or more, small, nomadic tribes had lived in the dense forests of the Amazon, but that civilisation, as we know it, had never reached them.
“We were less than 10 archaeologists working in the Amazon,” says Rostain, now director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris. “Everybody said there’s nothing to find.”
For four decades, Rostain carried out excavations of the ground in the Upano Valley, a part of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador, painstakingly collecting evidence that seemed to prove otherwise. But his breakthrough finally came in 2021, thanks to imagery captured from the air using light detection and ranging (lidar) technology.
More:
https://www.sciencefocus.com/planet-earth/lost-mega-cities-amazon