A new aerial LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) survey has mapped a sprawling network of 14th-century urban settlements in the Llanos de Mojos region of the Bolivian Amazon. The data reveals a series of interconnected 'garden cities' characterized by massive earthen mounds, defensive ditches, and sophisticated hydraulic canals that supported large-scale agriculture in a challenging rainforest environment.
Archaeologists suggest that these settlements represent a previously unknown expansion of the Casarabe culture, demonstrating a level of urban planning and social complexity that challenges the myth of the 'pristine' and unpopulated Amazon. The findings indicate that the region hosted a dense, highly organized society long before European contact.