Are these the lost cities of Amazon? Monumental platform, pyramid architecture discovered hidden under trees

From its origin to its rivers, Amazon is said to be one of the most mysterious and mystical places on Earth. Until the late 20th century, it was believed that the Amazon region supported hunter-gatherer tribes, and nothing else. However, recent probes have revealed evidence of civilisation with stunning findings like traces of irrigation, earthworks, large towns, canals etc. People have disappeared (presumably lost their lives) trying to locate the lost cities - which are popular in legends - that are said to have existed deep within the forest. Remember the story of British explorer Percy Fawcett? He searched for what he believed was the 'Lost City of Z'. In 1925, Fawcett disappeared with his son into the jungle and never returned.

In the most recent discovery, ancient cities have been located in the Bolivian Amazon using lidar technology. The technology is dubbed "lasers in the sky".

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The study published inNaturejournal suggests that Amazon’s rainforest was actually heavily populated. The study presented lidar data of sites belonging to the Casarabe culture (around AD 500 to AD 1400) in the Llanos de Mojos savannah–forest mosaic, southwest Amazonia. It reveals the presence of two remarkably large sites in a dense four-tiered settlement system.

The study revealed that the "civic-ceremonial architecture of these large settlement sites includes stepped platforms, on top of which lie U-shaped structures, rectangular platform mounds and conical pyramids (which are up to 22 m tall)".

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It has been found that the large settlement sites are surrounded by ranked "concentric polygonal banks and represent central nodes". They are connected to lower-ranked sites by long straight and raised causeways

The study indicates that the Casarabe-culture settlement pattern represents a type of tropical low-density urbanism that has not previously been described in Amazonia.

José Iriarte from the University of Exeter said, "We long suspected that the most complex pre-Columbian societies in the whole basin developed in this part of the Bolivian Amazon, but evidence is concealed under the forest canopy and is hard to visit in person."

"Our lidar system has revealed built terraces, straight causeways, enclosures with checkpoints, and water reservoirs. There are monumental structures are just a mile apart connected by 600 miles of canals long raised causeways connecting sites, reservoirs and lakes," Iriarte added.

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