Mysterious 14th-Century Amazonian Constellation Villages unearthed: A hidden cosmic blueprint?
Iriarte et alThe southern rim of the Amazon rainforest is believed to have been home to a variety of soil-engineering cultures.
The cosmos model is just a theory and could possibly lead researchers to a never-before-known aspect of these past Amazonian cultures. But the architecture of these towns was nothing new to researchers.
Historical descriptions of road networks deep in the Amazon have appeared as early as the 16th century. Around that time, Friar Gaspar de Carvajal, who was part of the Spanish Dominican missionary, witnessed wide roads that connected the outer villages to the center of the village network.
In the 18th century, Colonel Antonio Pires de Campos described a vast population of Indigenous peoples who inhabited the region, living in “villages connected by straight, wide roads that were constantly kept clean.”
Previously, archaeologists focused their studies on excavating single mounds found in the territory, but no research has ever examined the pattern of these mounds as an interconnected whole. The study’s findings can help researchers to better understand how these villages were structured at a regional level.
More advanced archaeological studies have been realized thanks to innovative technology like LIDAR in recent years. Now, scientists all over the world are able to dig a little deeper into the past.
Next, see how archaeologists used LIDAR technology to uncover more than 61,000 Ancient Mayan structures hidden beneath the Guatemalan jungle. Then learn about the lost capital of Cambodia’s Khmer Empire that was revealed using the same scanning technology.
