“The Ghost City” of a Ruined Civilization Surfaces in the Amazon Rainforest
According to Newsweek, a research team led by Dr. Eduardo Neves, director of the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at the University of São Paulo (Brazil), has discovered a “lost city” deep within the Amazon rainforest.
This city is noted in several ancient maps, but its precise location had remained unknown.
Ruins of a city from a few hundred years ago found in the Amazon rainforest – (Illustration AI: ANH THƯ).
“The city has been abandoned, the jungle has taken over, and the stones have been displaced… We were able to map out the layout of the streets in this city” – Dr. Neves told Brazil’s Metrópoles news agency.
Since the 1500s, the Portuguese colonized this area, establishing a colonial government for three centuries and exploiting the natural resources of the Amazon.
It was not until the early 19th century, under the leadership of Prince Dom Pedro I, that Brazil declared independence, ending over 300 years of colonial rule.
The “ghost city” recently discovered in the forest is an important remnant that captures this historical period. Preliminary research suggests it was built around the 18th century.
Further excavations will be necessary to gain a deeper understanding of this site.
This discovery is part of the Amazônia Revelada project, which aims to identify archaeological sites hidden deep beneath the dense canopy of the rainforest.
This large-scale project has employed LiDAR technology to survey numerous areas, using laser-based remote sensing to create three-dimensional maps of the land in search of hidden structures.
Some excavations based on unusual structures previously detected by LiDAR have yielded artifacts dating back thousands of years from ancient settlements.
The Amazon region is believed to have been inhabited for at least 11,000-12,000 years, although some artifacts suggest that the first prehistoric settlements may have emerged as far back as 13,000 years ago.
