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220(!) authors work together to LIDAR the Amazonian rain forest and develop a predictive model for presence of earthworks. Astounding.

#archaeology #anthropology

Peripato et al., "More than 10,000 pre-Columbian earthworks are still hidden throughout Amazonia." Science382,103-109(2023).

https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.ade2541
Editor's summary Indigenous societies have lived in the Amazon for at least 12,000 years. Finding ev- idence of these societies, however, has been greatly hampered by the density of the forest in Amazonia. Peripato et al. used LIDAR (light detection and ranging) sur- veys to identify more than 20 previously unidentified developments and then mod- eled the occurrence of others across the Amazon. The authors predict that between 10,000 and 24,000 ancient earthworks are waiting to be discovered. Sampling of some of the LIDAR transects revealed a consistent set of domesticated tree species associated with the developments, suggesting active forestry practices among these societies. —Sacha Vignieri
[AESRT 5 7777 =7 777 OoPENINVEWER IO B s s e 4 Y ) S R o e e [ Y aicl IDE e N\ s Y e e QT aEeto et L el A \ s W Y e e | , N "T%\&w } flfl’“fi? 7 @% N A A CHSANIE N T 4 g s N O pian L viEl (VT 7 E s A s, 0 S i e T TR /( L fl Paml=wr - s i B 3é fhade W g : s e o ,'l“‘ LA ey o Earthworks (937) Cd l{ AT % New discoveries (24) L ; Y { N * Other archaeological sites /flf‘ ; 4 75 / »~;§N‘ e i i ?‘“ s 3 # o i e m Amazonreglons Y e ‘ 7 o - S R 62 : o o == w. o SRR e A RN \§ TR Q 7% k S s e e e (e NG . .[!!,.'--- . ’! R RN SR N R J 1: . T 2 RS \\% N s AR e | - 4 B g SRR e 'l“x’i.i?g‘"}(\‘ s 3 [\ l‘i\gfir S e C o s Sl . L St R - N RCNSEE g " SRR AL S i }.%fis‘}i‘h ) ) SOl N Fig. 1. Geographical distribution of known and newly discovered pre-Columbian geometric earthworks in Amazonia. (A) Map of previously reported and newly discovered earthworks (purple circles and yellow stars, respec- tively) reported in this study across six Amazonian regions: central Amazonia (CA), eastern Amazonia (EA), Guiana Shield (GS), northwestern Amazonia (NwA), southern Amazonia (SA), and southwestern Amazonia (SwA). (B) Newly discovered earthworks in SA. (C to F) Newly discovered earthworks in SWA. (G to I) Newly discovered earthworks in GS. (J and K) Newly discovered earthworks in CA. Scale bars, 100 m.
#archaeology #anthropology

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