Researchers have scanned Amazon jungle. LiDAR showed something extraordinary
8:32 AM EDT, October 13, 2023
An international group of researchers analyzed thousands of square miles of the Amazon jungle. It turned out that under the layer of vegetation there are structures that were made by human hands.
The Amazon jungle is known as the most pristine ecosystem in the world. However, research results published in the scientific journal "Science" show that even in such a wild place, people have left a trace of their presence.
Scientists have found terrestrial structures in the Amazon
Over 150 scientists from an international research team worked on developing these astonishing research results. The researchers looked at, among other things, the forest floor, using LiDAR scanners, which create three-dimensional scans of the earth's surface.
LiDAR technology allows you to see what is hidden under a thick layer of vegetation and the top layer of soil. Researchers analyzed over 2,045 square miles of terrain using this method.
The scanning of the Amazon rainforest has revealed that within its bounds there are 24 hitherto unknown terrestrial structures, the shapes of which suggest an anthropogenic origin (that is, created by human activity). Among them are megalithic structures, fortifications, and even geoglyphs, which are drawings made in the soil.
In the Amazon, there may be many similar structures
- Initially, we were not sure if we would find anything - said in an interview with CNN Vinicius Peripato from the Brazilian National Space Research Center, the main author of the study. - It was a kind of a gamble, but the risk paid off. According to researchers, there could be as many as 10 to 20 of these types of structures in the Amazon.
Moreover, the places where earth mounds were found coincide with the areas where domesticated plant species, such as Brazil nuts or cacao trees, occur. This indicates that some parts of this forest may not be as old as we think.
