Using Light Detection and Ranging technology, researchers have mapped a massive urban complex hidden beneath the dense canopy of the Upano Valley. The network includes over 6,000 earthen platforms, plazas, and a sophisticated agricultural terrace system linked by straight roads.
The city, which flourished between 500 BCE and 600 CE, housed thousands of inhabitants and represents one of the earliest examples of large-scale urbanism in the Amazon. This discovery fundamentally challenges the myth of the Amazon as a 'virgin' wilderness before European contact.