The Amazon rainforest is still a wondrous and mysterious place with undiscovered secrets still yet to be found. However, archeologists recently found what may be one of the biggest finds in recent memory, unearthing a collection of ancient cities more than two millennia old.
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:04 The Amazon rainforest is still a wondrous and mysterious place,
00:08 with undiscovered secrets still yet to be found.
00:11 However, archaeologists recently found what may be one of the biggest finds in recent memory,
00:15 unearthing a collection of ancient cities more than two millennia old.
00:19 Investigators looked at data from more than 20 years of research in the area,
00:23 and employed LIDAR, or light detection and ranging, to map out the whole network.
00:27 The researchers say the cities included massive systems of farmland and roads
00:31 throughout the foothills of the Andes and the Amazon,
00:34 adding that they were inhabited from around 500 BCE to around 300-600 CE,
00:39 with the researchers writing in their paper, quote,
00:42 "This research revealed the largest urban network of erected and excavated features known in Amazonia,
00:47 whose beginnings date back to 2,500 years ago."
00:50 The cluster of ancient cities covered an area around 115 square miles,
00:55 with the researchers saying this is a huge step forward for better understanding ancient cultures in the area.
01:00 As previous estimates have suggested, 90% of the human history in the Amazon remains a mystery.
01:05 So far, they've uncovered 15 cities, connected by roads all built atop 6,000 platforms.
01:11 Areas between these settlements were also used for agriculture,
01:14 with the LIDAR data revealing the swathes of land had been drained for the growing of maize, beans, sweet potatoes, and cassava.
01:22 [music]