Discovery Of 'El Dorado' Proves Bolivia's Amazon Is Inhabitable

newyorker.com:

The gradual devastation of the Amazon--the felling of thousands of square miles of forest, the clear-cutting of the jungle--has produced, paradoxically, one of the greatest archeological discoveries: a vast and complex ancient civilization. In cleared-away areas of the upper Amazon basin, researchers, using satellite imagery, have recently pinpointed a vast network of monumental earthworks, including geometrically aligned roads and structures, constructed by a hitherto unknown civilization. According to a new report published in the journal Antiquity, the archeologist Martii Pärssinen and other scientists have documented more than two hundred and ten geometric structures, some of which may date as far back as the third century A.D. They are spread out over an area that spans more than two hundred and fifty kilometers, reaching all the way from northern Bolivia to the state of Amazonia in Brazil.

Read the whole story: newyorker.com

Comments

[Coinyer101]

02:13 PM on 01/09/2010

I like these archeology stories.....,I took a course on the Ozark 'Bluffdwellers' of NW Arkansas, and have been 'hooked' ever since.......,I love going hiking along the Buffalo River and locating the sites......, I often think of my Choctaw heritage and how they were forced to march through this same area on the 'Trail of Tears'........, a sad chapter in our history, indeed.....,

[hidenout]

02:28 AM on 01/10/2010

I used to live in Little Rock, traveling the entire state for business, and my favorite area was of course the NW Arkansas. Gorgeous country.

Fished the Smith River in Montana a few years back, a 60 mile stretch with no egress, and there were Indian pictographs a various locations. Climbed the magnificent limestone cliffs, explored small caves with all kinds of paintings. Felt honored and sad at the same time.

http://www.greerservices.com/Assets/publications_pdfs/2001MAS_SmithRiver/2001_MAS_SmithRivermg2r.pdf

[davidwayneosedach]

03:43 PM on 01/08/2010

It would be interesting to scroll forward a hundred years and see what happened to the Amazon Rain Forest. One continuous city from Los Angeles to Rio?

[VOTER]

05:38 PM on 01/09/2010

Frightening.

[kareemachan]

01:07 PM on 01/10/2010

Saddening.

[Higgs Boson]

02:57 PM on 01/08/2010

This is all very interesting , but what about the destruction of the Amazon ? These jungles are the engine that drives our atmosphere and when they are destroyed will we have raped the earth to the point where it can no longer sustain human life ? People just seem to have no regard for the planet which is our home. We are dumping our trash into the oceans, wiping out the forests , polluting the air , killing off all the animals , and in the process we will eventually kill ourselves.

[DebtNavigation]

01:51 PM on 01/08/2010

I love it when writers use the word "hitherto".

On a more serious note, those decrying the destruction of the Amazon rainforest that exposed "El Dorado" should remember that when "El Dorado" was flourishing the rainforest wasn't covering it either. Life is resilient and it will assert itself wherever conditions give it the slightest opportunity.

Evidence of our existence in places we abandon will vanish from the Earth in a geological eyeblink.

[RTIII]

05:02 PM on 01/09/2010

But life driven to extinction won't.

And, you don't know that there was no jungle there when "el Dorado" was built - that's just speculation on YOUR part.
.

[LaurieAnn]

12:03 PM on 01/08/2010

Fascinating discovery. Now that it's know the area is inhabitable I hope that it will be left alone for the benefit of the wildlife that exists there.

[kareemachan]

01:08 PM on 01/10/2010

From your lips to God's ear....

[kurotenshi]

09:58 AM on 01/08/2010

This was all laid out in the book 1491 by Charles Mann. If you get a chance, read it, he has aerial photographs of areas all around the amazon basin that show these types of remnants.

[kurotenshi]

10:07 AM on 01/08/2010

More aerial photos and publications of the basin.

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cerickso/applied.html

[Coinyer101]

02:17 PM on 01/09/2010

cool. thanks!

[MNmommy]

02:41 PM on 01/08/2010

Thanks.

[Coinyer101]

02:17 PM on 01/09/2010

Hey 'MN'! I like these stories of discovery. You too? lol

[Paulo1]

09:07 AM on 01/08/2010

While we are all so happily speculating about what these people were all about may I chime in ?

I believe they were actually a band of early Republicans setting up a society based on their core principles. Which is exactly why they failed and the jungle took over. They would not raise money for infrastructure or social support networks and gave it all away to greedy individuals who took the loot and invested it in the up and coming Mayan and Incan empires nearby.

There that was fun. see anybody can play Junior Archeologist.

[kareemachan]

01:08 PM on 01/10/2010

LOL!

[Gronkie]

08:23 AM on 01/08/2010

David Grann's book "The Lost City Of Z" was incredible, tracing Fawcett's original trek, the mystery that captured the world for decades after his disappearance, the seraches for Fawcett, and finally Grann's own search. Really a fascinating book.

[morgan1]

06:36 AM on 01/08/2010

All these amazing discoveries are coming on the heels of total destruction of the Rain Forests. There is an abundance of species lost already that were never discovered and cataloged. There is a rich history of medicinal cures that are being lost daily. Genocide is being committed by the logging industry and the huge Agri-farms that are turning this rich continent into a wasteland of pollution and desert. The discovery is interesting, but the continued destruction, the refusal to act on climate change, is a huge benchmark for the end of civilization--Not just ours, but the entire planet. A coffee table book will look marvelous as a memento of what used to be.

[Obenauer]

12:09 AM on 01/08/2010

Look forward to seeing photographs of the archeological sites. Too bad the rain forest is being destroyed, however.

[eugenegerard]

11:28 AM on 01/08/2010

Too bad for ALL of us. The Brazilian Rainforest produces TWENTY PERCENT of the earths oxygen and is the main air conditioner for this planet. We are fools

[Obenauer]

12:08 AM on 01/08/2010

Several hundred kilometers is quite a large area. It will be nice to view photographs of the archeological findings discovered in Bolivia. Too bad that the rain forest is being destroyed however.

[Coinyer101]

02:16 PM on 01/09/2010

I like to go to google earth and search myself, for stuff. I haven't made any new discoveries but, it's fun.....,

[Halter]

10:27 PM on 01/07/2010

Was it ruled by women?

[Coinyer101]

02:15 PM on 01/09/2010

lol...., maybe so.....,they thought 'El Dorado' was a myth, too, so, why not Amazon wimmen?....,lmao

[Kap Hop]

10:21 PM on 01/07/2010

Would love to see what's under all that cover...

[CoronaDischarge]

08:59 PM on 01/07/2010

Surely this should come as no great surprise. With the Mayans to the Northwest and Aztecs further to the North, and later the Incas to the west, the idea that they arose spontaneously and not in concert with neighbors in say areas like the Amazon basin is a little difficult to support.

[kurotenshi]

10:02 AM on 01/08/2010

http://www.charlesmann.org/Excerpt-1.htm