A new LiDAR survey across the Llanos de Moxos in the Bolivian Amazon has unveiled a sophisticated network of raised stone-and-earth roads connecting human-made mounds and agricultural islands. These structures, built by an unidentified pre-Columbian civilization between 300 BCE and 800 CE, span over 150 kilometers and allowed for movement through the seasonally flooded wetlands.
The mapping also identified several previously unknown fortified bridge structures that crossed deep channels, indicating a highly organized territorial defense and trade system. The scale of the infrastructure suggests a much larger population lived in the region than historical records previously estimated, with advanced knowledge of hydraulic engineering and landscape management.