The city was built 2,500 years ago but may have been abandoned after a volcanic eruption.

A huge ancient city has been found in the Amazon, hidden for thousands of years by lush vegetation.

The discovery changes what we know about the history of people living in the Amazon. The houses and plazas in the Upano area in eastern Ecuador were connected by an astounding network of roads and canals.

The area lies in the shadow of a volcano that created rich local soils but also may have led to the destruction of the society.

While we knew about cities in the highlands of South America, like Machu Picchu in Peru, it was believed that people only lived nomadically or in tiny settlements in the Amazon.

“This is older than any other site we know in the Amazon. We have a Eurocentric view of civilisation, but this shows we have to change our idea about what is culture and civilisation,” says Prof Stephen Rostain, director of investigation at the National Centre for Scientific Research in France, who led the research.

  • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
    92·
    10 months ago

    There are plenty of historical records about the population dying from diseases. This was in no way unknown. Also, the conquerors actively tried to s destroy all records of the previous civilizations. They knew exactly what they were doing.

    • someoneelse@lemmy.ml
      33·
      10 months ago

      There are records of population dying from diseases, but the magnitude was known only recently. And the records they destroyed were mainly Aztec and Inca, which are known as large civilizations, as opposed to the amazonian ones. It’s now that they were nice, it’s that there was no knowledge that there was anything to search. Only the quest for El Dorado counts and has been regarded for the longest time as looking for a fairy tale.