Uploaded December 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A new study into earlier LiDAR data from the Amazon has found 24 previously unknown earthworks including a fortified village, geoglyphs and riverine sites. Based on this data, previous finds and statistical modelling, experts think there may be more than 10,000 such sites in the southwestern Amazon. As more and more ancient domesticated landscapes are found there, the picture emerges of densely populated societies that developed complex environmental management techniques. In this video I discuss this new study, as well as the investigation of Neolithic stone piles submerged in Lake Constance, and the discovery of carbon-based Palaeolithic cave art in France.
#ancienthistory #amazonia #amazonforest
✨ IN THIS EPISODE
00:00 Introduction
00:36 Thousands of pre-Columbian earthworks may be hidden in the Amazon
07:18 Archaeologists explore submerged Neolithic structures in Lake Constance
08:53 Carbon-based prehistoric cave art found in France
✨ JOIN MY CHANNEL
youtube.com/channel/UC0Hs5t0U6Uf993Tba22YmKA/join
✨ SUPPORT VIA PATREON
patreon.com/MegalithHunter
✨ FOLLOW ME ON SOCIALS
Instagram & Facebook: @MegalithHunter
Twitter: @Megalith_Hunter
✨ REFERENCES
Peripato, V., Levis, C., Moreira, G.A., Gamerman, D., Ter Steege, H., Pitman, N.C., de Souza, J.G., Iriarte, J., Robinson, M., Junqueira, A.B. and Trindade, T.B., (2023). More than 10,000 pre-Columbian earthworks are still hidden throughout Amazonia. Science, 382(6666), pp.103-109.
De Souza, J.G., Schaan, D.P., Robinson, M. et al. Pre-Columbian earth-builders settled along the entire southern rim of the Amazon. Nat Commun 9, 1125 (2018).
Pärssinen, M., Balée, W., Ranzi, A. and Barbosa, A., 2020. The geoglyph sites of Acre, Brazil: 10 000-year-old land-use practices and climate change in Amazonia. Antiquity, 94(378), pp.1538-1556.
Iriarte, J., Ziegler, M.J., Outram, A.K., Robinson, M., Roberts, P., Aceituno, F.J., Morcote-Ríos, G. and Keesey, T.M., (2022). Ice Age megafauna rock art in the Colombian Amazon?. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 377(1849), p.20200496.
Milligan, M. (2023). ‘Divers explore 5,000-year-old stone piles submerged in alpine lake,’ Heritage Daily, 15 December. heritagedaily.com/2023/12/divers-explore-5000-year-old-stone-piles-submerged-in-alpine-lake/149960
Reiche, I., Coquinot, Y., Trosseau, A. et al. (2023). First discovery of charcoal-based prehistoric cave art in Dordogne. Sci Rep 13, 22235.
✨ PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS
CC BY 4.0 DEED creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Following images, credit: De Souza, J.G., et. al., taken from the paper referenced above.
LiDAR digital terrain model of the Jacó Sá site
Aerial photo of one of the structures at Jacó Sá site
Aerial photo of Fonte Boa site showing a mounded ring village with radiating roads
Upper Tapajós Basin: Typical position of ditched enclosures in the landscape, on plateaus overlooking rivers
Example of a small enclosure
Compound structure with a small enclosure in the interior of a larger one
Part of the site Z-Mt-04, showing the wavy pattern of ditch construction
Plan of a major regional centre, site Mt-07, with ditches outlined in black and mounds/walls outlined in white (Satellite image ©2018 Google, DigitalGlobe)
Site Mt-04
Following images, credit: Pärssinen, M., et al., taken from the paper referenced above.
Aerial photograph of the Severino Calazans site, looking south (photograph by D. Gurgel)
Plan of the earthworks at Severino Calazans (drawing by M. Pärssinen, S. Saunaluoma & W. Perttola)
Aerial photograph of the Severino Batista earthwork (photograph by D. Gurgel)
Amazon rock art, credit: Iriarte, J., et. al., in the paper referenced above.
Rock art in the Font-de-Gaume cave, credit: Reiche, I., et. al., in the paper referenced above.
CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
“Amazon Stonehenge,” credit: Leandroisola
Lake Constance, credit: Carsten Steger
CC BY 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Broader image of “Amazon Stonehenge,” credit: Governo do Amapá
CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
Font-de-Gaume cave, credit: Traumrune
CC BY-SA 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Amazon River, credit: Neil Palmer/CIAT
Amazon aerial view, credit: lubasi
Other
Photographs of the Neolithic rock piles in Lake Constance, credit: Urs Leuzinger
A new study into earlier LiDAR data from the Amazon has found 24 previously unknown earthworks including a fortified village, geoglyphs and riverine sites. Based on this data, previous finds and statistical modelling, experts think there may be more than 10,000 such sites in the southwestern Amazon. As more and more ancient domesticated landscapes are found there, the picture emerges of densely populated societies that developed complex environmental management techniques. In this video I discuss this new study, as well as the investigation of Neolithic stone piles submerged in Lake Constance, and the discovery of carbon-based Palaeolithic cave art in France.
#ancienthistory #amazonia #amazonforest
✨ IN THIS EPISODE
00:00 Introduction
00:36 Thousands of pre-Columbian earthworks may be hidden in the Amazon
07:18 Archaeologists explore submerged Neolithic structures in Lake Constance
08:53 Carbon-based prehistoric cave art found in France
✨ JOIN MY CHANNEL
youtube.com/channel/UC0Hs5t0U6Uf993Tba22YmKA/join
✨ SUPPORT VIA PATREON
patreon.com/MegalithHunter
✨ FOLLOW ME ON SOCIALS
Instagram & Facebook: @MegalithHunter
Twitter: @Megalith_Hunter
✨ REFERENCES
Peripato, V., Levis, C., Moreira, G.A., Gamerman, D., Ter Steege, H., Pitman, N.C., de Souza, J.G., Iriarte, J., Robinson, M., Junqueira, A.B. and Trindade, T.B., (2023). More than 10,000 pre-Columbian earthworks are still hidden throughout Amazonia. Science, 382(6666), pp.103-109.
De Souza, J.G., Schaan, D.P., Robinson, M. et al. Pre-Columbian earth-builders settled along the entire southern rim of the Amazon. Nat Commun 9, 1125 (2018).
Pärssinen, M., Balée, W., Ranzi, A. and Barbosa, A., 2020. The geoglyph sites of Acre, Brazil: 10 000-year-old land-use practices and climate change in Amazonia. Antiquity, 94(378), pp.1538-1556.
Iriarte, J., Ziegler, M.J., Outram, A.K., Robinson, M., Roberts, P., Aceituno, F.J., Morcote-Ríos, G. and Keesey, T.M., (2022). Ice Age megafauna rock art in the Colombian Amazon?. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 377(1849), p.20200496.
Milligan, M. (2023). ‘Divers explore 5,000-year-old stone piles submerged in alpine lake,’ Heritage Daily, 15 December. heritagedaily.com/2023/12/divers-explore-5000-year-old-stone-piles-submerged-in-alpine-lake/149960
Reiche, I., Coquinot, Y., Trosseau, A. et al. (2023). First discovery of charcoal-based prehistoric cave art in Dordogne. Sci Rep 13, 22235.
✨ PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS
CC BY 4.0 DEED creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Following images, credit: De Souza, J.G., et. al., taken from the paper referenced above.
LiDAR digital terrain model of the Jacó Sá site
Aerial photo of one of the structures at Jacó Sá site
Aerial photo of Fonte Boa site showing a mounded ring village with radiating roads
Upper Tapajós Basin: Typical position of ditched enclosures in the landscape, on plateaus overlooking rivers
Example of a small enclosure
Compound structure with a small enclosure in the interior of a larger one
Part of the site Z-Mt-04, showing the wavy pattern of ditch construction
Plan of a major regional centre, site Mt-07, with ditches outlined in black and mounds/walls outlined in white (Satellite image ©2018 Google, DigitalGlobe)
Site Mt-04
Following images, credit: Pärssinen, M., et al., taken from the paper referenced above.
Aerial photograph of the Severino Calazans site, looking south (photograph by D. Gurgel)
Plan of the earthworks at Severino Calazans (drawing by M. Pärssinen, S. Saunaluoma & W. Perttola)
Aerial photograph of the Severino Batista earthwork (photograph by D. Gurgel)
Amazon rock art, credit: Iriarte, J., et. al., in the paper referenced above.
Rock art in the Font-de-Gaume cave, credit: Reiche, I., et. al., in the paper referenced above.
CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
“Amazon Stonehenge,” credit: Leandroisola
Lake Constance, credit: Carsten Steger
CC BY 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Broader image of “Amazon Stonehenge,” credit: Governo do Amapá
CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
Font-de-Gaume cave, credit: Traumrune
CC BY-SA 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Amazon River, credit: Neil Palmer/CIAT
Amazon aerial view, credit: lubasi
Other
Photographs of the Neolithic rock piles in Lake Constance, credit: Urs Leuzinger
