Incredible lost cities of the Amazon jungle rediscovered using 'lasers in the sky'

dailystar.co.uk:

lasers in the sky”.A team of international researchers, including Professor Jose Iriarte from the University of Exeter, has uncovered sophisticated settlements in the Llanos de Mojos savannah-forest, Bolivia, some of which contain 70-foot conical “pyramids”.The settlements also featured complex irrigation systems and huge terraces covering 22 hectares – the equivalent of 30 football pitches.The cities, built by the Casarabe communities between 500 and 1400 AD, have been reclaimed by the jungle over the centuries and from the air are now almost completely invisible to the naked eye.But the researchers used Lidar – a scanning system which works on a similar principle to radar, but uses light from a laser – to reveal the jungle’s hidden secrets.

The aerial Lidar system has been described as "lasers in the sky".Professor Iriarte 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.“Lidar technology combined with extensive archaeological research reveals that indigenous people not only managed forested landscapes, but also created urban landscapes, which can significantly contribute to perspectives on the conservation of the Amazon.“This region was one of the earliest occupied by humans in Amazonia, where people started to domesticate crops of global importance such as manioc and rice.