Chris Madden

people are dramatically underappreciating how much this discovery rewrites history > for decades, archaeologists believed the amazon could only support small, scattered communities because its soil was too poor for large, complex civilizations > then deforestation started exposing giant circles + squares carved into the ground, and the theory began falling apart > the intact jungle still hid the true scale, so researchers flew lidar over 4,500 km² and digitally peeled away the trees > they found 396 previously unknown earthworks, some surrounded by ditches 5m deep + connected by roads > across the full region, they estimate 20,000+ structures spread over an area roughly the size of syria > most belonged to a 2,500-year-old society researchers call the aquiry > its peak population is estimated at 1.25-3 million people (the city of rome had roughly 1 million) > so while rome ruled the mediterranean, this supposedly impossible forest society may have supported 1-3 romes worth of people > which raises the obvious question: how did a region archaeologists thought was infertile feed millions? > it turns out this part of the amazon has unusually fertile soil, and they grew maize + squash while actively managing the surrounding forest > then around 850-950 ad, their ceremonial centers were suddenly abandoned, and researchers still have no idea why > and all of this came from a territory covering less than 3% of the amazon what else is still hiding beneath the other 97% of the Amazon??