Mysterious 14th-Century Amazonian Constellation Villages unearthed: A hidden cosmic blueprint?
Ever wonder if ancient Amazonians kept better time than modern folks with our smartphone alarms and incessant beeps? Well, prepare to be astounded! Researchers from the University of Exeter have unearthed something pretty cool beneath the dense, vibrant canopies of the Amazon Rainforest! Imagine settling a village layout that looks exactly like a clock face or maybe even the sun’s rays, spreading out all perfect and geometric—I mean, who knew they had such an eye for design, right? These so-called “mound villages,” as discovered, have given us a window into the pre-Columbian era’s societal organization, and let’s just say it’s got a bit of a cosmic vibe to it. It’s like they knew about Instagram aesthetics way before it was a thing!
Now that’s the kind of town planning I could get behind! And let me tell you, these villagers back in the day weren’t just throwing dirt around; they strategically engineered the land, turning the soil into art. Interestingly, it’s the first time such villages have been located in the Brazilian state of Acre, amidst the vast expanse of rainforest that’s believed to have teemed with diverse soil-engineering cultures before Europeans ever set foot there.
So, what’s the buzz all about? Well, these villages aren’t just for show. They have a geometrical order—some circular, some rectangular, linked by wide, clean roads stretching towards each other. And while it’s tempting to envision these cultures designing their homes and town structures to align with the cosmos, inking out mysterious lines under a starlit sky, the full cosmic theory is still just that—a theory. But, what we do know is this:
The discoveries were made possible with a nifty piece of tech called LIDAR, jazzed up with a helicopter to peer through the foliage. And imagine, with technology like LIDAR, we’re uncovering not just history, but the very soul of these ancient civilizations.
Ready to delve even deeper into this time-keeping Amazonian mystery, which reminds us that the past is not just history—it’s a treasure of breathtaking setups and intelligent landscapes? LEARN MORE.
Researchers think the organization of the villages also resembles the face of a clock or the rays of the sun.
University of ExeterScientists used advanced ground-penetrating laser technology to detect “mound villages” beneath the thick Amazonian canopies.
In a new study on the pre-Columbian era of the Amazon, scientists have found a network of 35 villages that appeared to be arranged like the constellations. Researchers believe the organization of these towns was based on a specific social model, which itself could have been based on the cosmos.
According to Live Science, from a bird’s eye view, the lines of each village formed elongated mounds that circled a central plaza. These villages, dubbed “mound villages,” were engineered by builders who manipulated the soil as early as the 14th century.
In fact, researchers believe that the whole southern rim of the rainforest was once host to a variety of soil-engineering cultures that sculpted the landscape into villages before the Europeans arrived. This, however, is the first time such mound villages have been found in the Brazilian state of Acre.
Researchers found 25 circular and 11 rectangular mound villages. Another 15 mound villages were so poorly preserved, unfortunately, that they could not be categorized as either shape.
University of ExeterLIDAR scan of the territory shows the many “mound villages” beneath the Earth.
According to the study, which was published in the Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology, “These latter elongated mounds, when seen from above, look like the rays of the sun, which gives them the common name of ‘Sóis,’ the Portuguese word for ‘suns.’”
Some villages were arranged in circles with an average diameter of 282 feet. Others formed rectangles with an average length of 148 feet. Roads crossed through the towns, including two “principal roads” that measured 20 feet across that formed into high banks. These larger roads spread outward from each village toward neighboring settlements, linking them all into a cluster.
To get an accurate blueprint of the settlements, which have been buried underground for centuries, the team used Light Detection and Ranging or LIDAR technology, which maps the area as it appears below the Amazon’s thick canopy of trees. The researchers attached a LIDAR sensor to a helicopter that then flew over the Amazonian rainforest in the Acre state region of Brazil.
“Lidar provides a new opportunity to locate and document earthen sites in forested parts of Amazonia characterized by dense vegetation,” said lead author Jose Iriarte from the University of Exeter. “It can also document the smallest surficial earthen features in the recently opened pasture areas.”
The study authors suggest that the intentional connectivity between the villages was dictated by the social structure that existed between their communities. It’s unclear what specific model these villages were based upon, but it could be meant to resemble the arrangement of the stars as they saw them, which held important meaning to early Native Amazonians.
