the_joel•13d agoMost Upvoted

I thought the 'lost city' stories from the Amazon were just explorer myths, but the new lidar scans in Bolivia changed my mind.

I always figured those tales of huge ancient settlements under the jungle were exaggerations. Then I saw the paper from the University of Bonn about the Casarabe culture sites. The lidar maps show raised causeways, huge platform mounds, and reservoirs covering over 100 square miles. It wasn't just a few villages, it was a whole urban network that managed the wet season floods. What's the most convincing piece of evidence you've seen that flipped your view on an old archaeology story?

3 comments

3 Comments

nancy_smith3d ago

Actually, lidar is the proof they lived there long term. Those pottery pieces kelly385 mentioned are important, but they only show a single spot. The lidar maps show the WHOLE picture, the roads and canals connecting everything. You can't argue with a city plan you can see from the sky. It shows they planned the place, they didn't just camp out.

xena113d ago

Wow, seeing those causeway grids in the lidar images totally blew my mind.

kelly38513d ago

Honestly, those lidar images are cool but I'm still a skeptic, xena1. For me, it's the pottery and tools on site that prove people really lived there long term.