A Complex Society in Western Amazonia

[Carrilei]

http://www.sphere.com/article/defore...ity%2F19309215http://antiquity.ac.uk/Ant/083/1084/ant0831084.pdf

The last Indiana Jones a couple years ago was about "..El Dorado, a mythical lost city in the Amazon." ... Well, it seems they found El Dorado irl..

[Sanoske]

I'd really like to read the actual research publication. It seems like they made a lot of conjectures based upon little evidence, but the article is pretty vague. This is really exciting though, the pictures remind me of a cross between the Nazca and the moundbuilding societies in during the Hopewell/Mississipian period. (One site in particular, but I can't remember for the life of me)

Time to do some research.

[Carrilei]

I'd really like to read the actual research publication. It seems like they made a lot of conjectures based upon little evidence, but the article is pretty vague. This is really exciting though, the pictures remind me of a cross between the Nazca and the moundbuilding societies in during the Hopewell/Mississipian period. (One site in particular, but I can't remember for the life of me)

Time to do some research.

I agree.. What I don't quite get is that a "present (day) country road" goes right through the findings.. It's shown in the antiquity .pdf link. Why is this only being discovered now..?

[willriker]

I would say that you never find what you are not looking for. The satilites survey's purpose was to scan for things they didnt notice before. The road was not built for that purpose.

Likely they people building the road only noticed a ditch. From thier view point it probably looked like any number of ditches they had to deal with while making the road. The rainforest, famous for how densely packed it is, probably obscured the rest of the find from the sight of the peoplle making the road. In addition, it is not like this is an interstate highway you are looking at. It looks like it is just a dirt road. I doubt many people travel on it.

[drwaffles]

I agree.. What I don't quite get is that a "present (day) country road" goes right through the findings.. It's shown in the antiquity .pdf link. Why is this only being discovered now..?

It's not like they happened to stumble across a sprawling abandoned metropolis of Mayan temples and your typical Hollywood-style "ancient lost city" fare - all that remains is outlines of where buildings used to be as visible from satellite, and the only reason they're just now being discovered is due to deforestation.