Research reveals that the Amazon basin likely houses over 10,000 undiscovered Pre-Columbian sites, underscoring the profound impact of ancient societies on the region’s ecology and emphasizing the need for its protection and sustainable management.
A new study estimates that over 10,000 Pre-Columbian archaeological sites remain undiscovered across the Amazon basin. Using remote sensing data and predictive spatial modeling, the research sheds light on the potential impact of pre-Columbian societies on the Amazon area.
“The massive extent of archaeological sites and widespread human-modified forests across Amazonia is critically important for establishing an accurate understanding of interactions between human societies, Amazonian forests, and Earth’s climate,” write the authors.
Indigenous Impact on the Amazon
Indigenous societies have called the Amazon basin home for more than 12,000 years, creating ancient earthwork structures and domesticated landscapes that have had long-lasting effects on modern forest composition. However, the size and scale of Amazon settlement and landscape transformation are poorly understood – sites are remote and often obscured by dense vegetation. As such, there has never been a comprehensive survey of pre-Columbian sites across the Amazon basin.
LIDAR Technology in Archaeological Discovery
Airborne LIDAR (light detection and ranging), a remote sensing technique that can map small changes in topography on the ground surface beneath the forest canopy, has been used to discover many previously unknown pre-Columbian structures and earthworks in heavily forested sites throughout Central and South America.
Here, Vinicius Peripato and colleagues searched 5,315 square kilometers of LIDAR survey data and discovered 24 unreported human-made earthworks, including fortified villages, defensive and ceremonial structures, mountaintop settlements, and other geoglyphs, in regions across the Amazon basin. However, the LIDAR survey data covered only 0.08% of the total area of Amazonia.
Predictive Modeling and Potential Discoveries
To better understand where and how many undocumented pre-Columbian sites might occur, Peripato et al. combined the data from their small basin-wide survey, as well as data on other previously identified sites with a predictive spatial distribution model. According to the model, between 10,272 and 23,648 large-scale pre-Columbian structures remain to be discovered, particularly in southwestern Amazonia.
What’s more, the authors identified relationships between the predicted probability of earthworks and the occurrence and abundance of domesticated tree species and found significant association between the two, suggesting that active pre-Columbian Indigenous forest management practices have long shaped the ecology of modern forests across Amazonia. “Amazonian forests clearly merit protection not only for their ecological and environmental value but also for their high archaeological, social, and biocultural value, which can teach modern society how to sustainably manage its natural resources,” write Peripato et al.
Reference: “More than 10,000 pre-Columbian earthworks are still hidden throughout Amazonia” by Vinicius Peripato, Carolina Levis, Guido A. Moreira, Dani Gamerman, Hans ter Steege, Nigel C. A. Pitman, Jonas G. de Souza, José Iriarte, Mark Robinson, André Braga Junqueira, Thiago B. Trindade, Fernando O. de Almeida, Claide de Paula Moraes, Umberto Lombardo, Eduardo K. Tamanaha, Shira Y. Maezumi, Jean P. H. B. Ometto, José R. G. Braga, Wesley A. Campanharo, Henrique L. G. Cassol, Philipe R. Leal, Mauro L. R. de Assis, Adriana M. da Silva, Oliver L. Phillips, Flávia R. C. Costa, Bernardo Monteiro Flores, Bruce Hoffman, Terry W. Henkel, Maria Natalia Umaña, William E. Magnusson, Elvis H. Valderrama Sandoval, Jos Barlow, William Milliken, Maria Aparecida Lopes, Marcelo Fragomeni Simon, Tinde R. van Andel, Susan G. W. Laurance, William F. Laurance, Armando Torres-Lezama, Rafael L. Assis, Jean-François Molino, Mickaël Mestre, Michelle Hamblin, Luiz de Souza Coelho, Diogenes de Andrade Lima Filho, Florian Wittmann, Rafael P. Salomão, Iêda Leão Amaral, Juan Ernesto Guevara, Francisca Dionízia de Almeida Matos, Carolina V. Castilho, Marcelo de Jesus Veiga Carim, Dairon Cárdenas López, Daniel Sabatier, Mariana Victória Irume, Maria Pires Martins, José Renan da Silva Guimarães, Olaf S. Bánki, Maria Teresa Fernandez Piedade, José Ferreira Ramos, Bruno Garcia Luize, Evlyn Márcia Moraes de Leão Novo, Percy Núñez Vargas, Thiago Sanna Freire Silva, Eduardo Martins Venticinque, Angelo Gilberto Manzatto, Neidiane Farias Costa Reis, John Terborgh, Katia Regina Casula, Layon O. Demarchi, Euridice N. Honorio Coronado, Abel Monteagudo Mendoza, Juan Carlos Montero, Jochen Schöngart, Ted R. Feldpausch, Adriano Costa Quaresma, Gerardo A. Aymard C., Chris Baraloto, Nicolás Castaño Arboleda, Julien Engel, Pascal Petronelli, Charles Eugene Zartman, Timothy J. Killeen, Beatriz S. Marimon, Ben Hur Marimon-Junior, Juliana Schietti, Thaiane R. Sousa, Rodolfo Vasquez, Lorena M. Rincón, Erika Berenguer, Joice Ferreira, Bonifacio Mostacedo, Dário Dantas do Amaral, Hernán Castellanos, Marcelo Brilhante de Medeiros, Ana Andrade, José Luís Camargo, Emanuelle de Sousa Farias, José Leonardo Lima Magalhães, Henrique Eduardo Mendonça Nascimento, Helder Lima de Queiroz, Roel Brienen, Juan David Cardenas Revilla, Pablo R. Stevenson, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Bruno Barçante Ladvocat Cintra, Yuri Oliveira Feitosa, Flávia Rodrigues Barbosa, Rainiellen de Sá Carpanedo, Joost F. Duivenvoorden, Janaína da Costa de Noronha, Domingos de Jesus Rodrigues, Hugo F. Mogollón, Leandro Valle Ferreira, John Ethan Householder, José Rafael Lozada, James A. Comiskey, Freddie C. Draper, José Julio de Toledo, Gabriel Damasco, Nállarett Dávila, Roosevelt García-Villacorta, Aline Lopes, Fernando Cornejo Valverde, Alfonso Alonso, Francisco Dallmeier, Vitor H. F. Gomes, Eliana M. Jimenez, David Neill, Maria Cristina Peñuela Mora, Daniel P. P. de Aguiar, Luzmila Arroyo, Fernanda Antunes Carvalho, Fernanda Coelho de Souza, Kenneth J. Feeley, Rogerio Gribel, Marcelo Petratti Pansonato, Marcos Ríos Paredes, Izaias Brasil da Silva, Maria Julia Ferreira, Paul V. A. Fine, Émile Fonty, Marcelino Carneiro Guedes, Juan Carlos Licona, Toby Pennington, Carlos A. Peres, Boris Eduardo Villa Zegarra, Germaine Alexander Parada, Guido Pardo Molina, Vincent Antoine Vos, Carlos Cerón, Paul Maas, Marcos Silveira, Juliana Stropp, Raquel Thomas, Tim R. Baker, Doug Daly, Isau Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, Ima Célia Guimarães Vieira, Bianca Weiss Albuquerque, Alfredo Fuentes, Bente Klitgaard, José Luis Marcelo-Peña, Miles R. Silman, J. Sebastián Tello, Corine Vriesendorp, Jerome Chave, Anthony Di Fiore, Renato Richard Hilário, Juan Fernando Phillips, Gonzalo Rivas-Torres, Patricio von Hildebrand, Luciana de Oliveira Pereira, Edelcilio Marques Barbosa, Luiz Carlos de Matos Bonates, Hilda Paulette Dávila Doza, Ricardo Zárate Gómez, George Pepe Gallardo Gonzales, Therany Gonzales, Yadvinder Malhi, Ires Paula de Andrade Miranda, Linder Felipe Mozombite Pinto, Adriana Prieto, Agustín Rudas, Ademir R. Ruschel, Natalino Silva, César I. A. Vela, Egleé L. Zent, Stanford Zent, Angela Cano, Yrma Andreina Carrero Márquez, Diego F. Correa, Janaina Barbosa Pedrosa Costa, David Galbraith, Milena Holmgren, Michelle Kalamandeen, Guilherme Lobo, Marcelo Trindade Nascimento, Alexandre A. Oliveira, Hirma Ramirez-Angulo, Maira Rocha, Veridiana Vizoni Scudeller, Rodrigo Sierra, Milton Tirado, Geertje van der Heijden, Emilio Vilanova Torre, Manuel Augusto Ahuite Reategui, Cláudia Baider, Henrik Balslev, Sasha Cárdenas, Luisa Fernanda Casas, William Farfan-Rios, Cid Ferreira, Reynaldo Linares-Palomino, Casimiro Mendoza, Italo Mesones, Ligia Estela Urrego Giraldo, Daniel Villarroel, Roderick Zagt, Miguel N. Alexiades, Edmar Almeida de Oliveira, Karina Garcia-Cabrera, Lionel Hernandez, Walter Palacios Cuenca, Susamar Pansini, Daniela Pauletto, Fredy Ramirez Arevalo, Adeilza Felipe Sampaio, Luis Valenzuela Gamarra and Luiz E. O. C. Aragão, 5 October 2023, Science.
DOI: 10.1126/science.ade2541
Be the first to comment on "Rewriting History: New Research Reveals That There Are Thousands of Undiscovered Pre-Columbian Sites in the Amazon Rainforest"