https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01458-9 Skip to main content Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. Advertisement Advertisement Nature * View all journals * Search * My Account Login * Explore content * About the journal * Publish with us Subscribe * Sign up for alerts * RSS feed 1. nature 2. news 3. article * NEWS * 25 May 2022 * Correction 26 May 2022 'Mind blowing' ancient settlements uncovered in the Amazon The urban centres are the first to be discovered in the region, challenging archaeological dogma. * Freda Kreier 1. Freda Kreier View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar * Twitter * Facebook * Email You have full access to this article via your institution. Download PDF Aerial view of a forest islet in the Llanos de Moxos, Santa Ana del Yacuma, Beni, Bolivia. Researchers uncovered ancient urban centres on forested mounds in the Bolivian Amazon Basin.Credit: Roland Seitre/Nature Picture Library Mysterious mounds in the southwest corner of the Amazon Basin were once the site of ancient urban settlements, scientists have discovered. Using a remote-sensing technology to map the terrain from the air, they found that, starting about 1,500 years ago, ancient Amazonians built and lived in densely populated centres, featuring 22-metre-tall earthen pyramids, that were encircled by kilometres of elevated roadways. [d41586-022] Controversial cave discoveries suggest humans reached Americas much earlier than thought The complexity of these settlements is "mind blowing", says team member Heiko Prumers, an archaeologist at the German Archaeological Institute headquartered in Berlin. "This is the first clear evidence that there were urban societies in this part of the Amazon Basin," says Jonas Gregorio de Souza, an archaeologist at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain. The study adds to a growing body of research indicating that the Amazon -- long thought to have been pristine wilderness before the arrival of Europeans -- was home to advanced societies well before that. The discovery was published on 25 May in Nature^1. A shift in thinking Humans have lived in the Amazon Basin -- a vast river-drainage system roughly the size of the continental United States -- for around 10,000 years . Researchers thought that before the arrival of Europeans in the sixteenth century, all Amazonians lived in small, nomadic tribes that had little impact on the world around them. And although early European visitors described a landscape filled with towns and villages, later explorers were unable to find these sites. The settlement beneath: Arial image of a site in Bolivia showing an ancient urban centre beneath dense vegetation. Source: Ref. 1 By the twentieth century, archaeologists had yet to confirm the rumours, and argued that the Amazon's nutrient-poor soil was unable to support large-scale agriculture, and that it would have prevented tropical civilizations -- similar to those found in central America and southeast Asia -- from arising in the Amazon. By the 2000s, however, archaeological opinion was beginning to shift. Some researchers suggested^2 that unusually high concentrations of domesticated plants, along with patches of unusually nutrient-rich soil that could have been created by people, might indicate that ancient Amazonians had indeed shaped their environment. The hypothesis gained steam when, in 2018, archaeologists reported^3 hundreds of large, geometric mounds that had been uncovered because of deforestation in the southern Amazon rainforest. These structures hinted at ancient organized societies capable of thriving in one location for years -- but direct evidence of settlements was lacking. [d41586-022] Hundreds of Israel's archaeological sites are vanishing under concrete In 1999, Prumers began studying a set of mounds in the Bolivian part of the Amazon Basin, outside the thick rainforest. There, a multitude of tree-covered mounds rise above a lowland area that floods during the rainy season. Previous digs had revealed that these 'forest islands' contained traces of human habitation, including the remains of the mysterious Casarabe culture, which appeared around ad 500. During one excavation, Prumers and his colleagues realized that they had found what looked like a wall, indicating that a permanent settlement had once occupied the area. The researchers also found graves, platforms and other indications of a complex society. But dense vegetation made it difficult for them to use conventional methods to survey the site. What lies beneath By the 2010s, a technique called lidar -- a remote-sensing technology that uses lasers to generate a 3D image of the ground below -- had come into vogue with archaeologists. In 2012, a lidar survey of a valley in Honduras helped lead to the rediscovery of an ancient pre-Columbian city rumoured to exist in the area. The jungle had completely overtaken the settlement since it was abandoned in the fifteenth century, making it all but impossible to see from the air without lidar. Prumers and his colleagues took advantage of lidar in 2019, when they flew a helicopter equipped with the technology over six areas near sites confirmed to have been occupied by the Casarabe people. The team got more than it bargained for, with lidar revealing the size and shape of 26 settlements, including 11 the researchers hadn't been looking for -- a monumental task that would have taken 400 years to survey by conventional means, Prumers says. [d41586-022] Illegal mining in the Amazon hits record high amid Indigenous protests Two of the urban centres each covered an area of more than 100 hectares -- three times the size of Vatican City. The lidar images revealed walled compounds with broad terraces rising 6 metres above the ground. Conical pyramids made of earth towered above one end of the terraces (see 'The settlement beneath'). People probably lived in the areas around the terraces and travelled along the causeways that connected the sites to one another. "We have this image of Amazonia as a green desert -- devoid of any type of culture," Prumers says. But given that civilizations rose and thrived in other tropical areas, he notes, "Why shouldn't something like that exist here?" Mysteries remain Why these settlements were abandoned after 900 years is still a mystery. Radiocarbon dating has revealed that the Casarabe disappeared around 1400. Prumers points out that lidar images revealed reservoirs in the settlements, perhaps indicating that this part of the world wasn't always wet -- an environmental shift that might have driven people away. However, consistent pollen records reveal^4 that maize (corn) was grown in the area continuously for thousands of years, indicating sustainable agricultural practices. Amazon ecology: Footprints in the forest At the very least, the discovery of long-lost Amazonian societies "changes the general perspective people have of Amazonian archaeology", says Eduardo Neves, an archaeologist at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. Present-day logging and farming in the Amazon Basin are almost certainly destroying important archaeological sites that have yet to be discovered, he says, but a growing interest in Amazonian archaeology could lead to the protection of vulnerable places. These discoveries also counter the narrative that Indigenous peoples were passive inhabitants of the Amazon Basin before the arrival of Europeans. "The people who lived there changed the landscape forever," Neves says. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01458-9 Updates & Corrections * Correction 26 May 2022: An earlier version of this story said that there are hundreds of tree-covered mounds rising above a lowland area in the Bolivian Amazon. Some estimates suggest there are many more than that. References 1. Prumers, H., Betancourt, C. J., Iriarte, J., Robinson, M. & Schaich, M. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04780-4 (2022). Article Google Scholar 2. Neves, E. G. & Heckenberger, M. J. Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 48, 371-388 (2019). Article Google Scholar 3. de Souza, J. G.et al. Nature Commun. 9, 1125 (2018). Article Google Scholar 4. Carson, J. F. et al. Holocene 25, 1285-1300 (2015). Article Google Scholar Download references Related Articles * [d41586-022] Controversial cave discoveries suggest humans reached Americas much earlier than thought * [d41586-022] Hundreds of Israel's archaeological sites are vanishing under concrete * [d41586-022] Illegal mining in the Amazon hits record high amid Indigenous protests * Amazon ecology: Footprints in the forest Subjects * Archaeology Latest on: Archaeology Large-scale early urban settlements in Amazonia Large-scale early urban settlements in Amazonia News & Views 25 MAY 22 Lidar reveals pre-Hispanic low-density urbanism in the Bolivian Amazon Lidar reveals pre-Hispanic low-density urbanism in the Bolivian Amazon Article 25 MAY 22 Cramped chamber hides some of North America's biggest cave art Cramped chamber hides some of North America's biggest cave art Research Highlight 03 MAY 22 Nature Careers Jobs * Director, Scientific Conference Programming Alzheimer's Association Chicago, IL, United States * Staff Scientist University of Texas Medical branch (UTMB) Houston and Galveston, United States * Full or Associate Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Inflammation - Tenure Track Temple University Philadelphia, PA, United States * WHITEHEAD FELLOW POSITION MIT Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research Cambridge, United States You have full access to this article via your institution. Download PDF Related Articles * [d41586-022] Controversial cave discoveries suggest humans reached Americas much earlier than thought * [d41586-022] Hundreds of Israel's archaeological sites are vanishing under concrete * [d41586-022] Illegal mining in the Amazon hits record high amid Indigenous protests * Amazon ecology: Footprints in the forest Subjects * Archaeology Advertisement Sign up to Nature Briefing An essential round-up of science news, opinion and analysis, delivered to your inbox every weekday. Email address [ ] [ ] Yes! Sign me up to receive the daily Nature Briefing email. I agree my information will be processed in accordance with the Nature and Springer Nature Limited Privacy Policy. Sign up * Close Nature Briefing Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter -- what matters in science, free to your inbox daily. Email address [ ] Sign up [ ] I agree my information will be processed in accordance with the Nature and Springer Nature Limited Privacy Policy. 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