In a revolutionary discovery, LIDAR technology has mapped a sprawling network of interconnected cities hidden beneath the Amazon rainforest canopy. Unlike the stone cities of the Andes, these 'garden cities' were built with earthen mounds and organized along a sophisticated grid of causeways and canals.
The research suggests that the Amazon was densely populated by sedentary societies for over a thousand years before European contact. This challenges the long-held view of the Amazon as a pristine wilderness, revealing it as a managed cultural landscape.