'Lost towns' discovered in Amazon - Democratic Underground

TechBear_Seattle

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Fri Aug-29-08 08:09 AM
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'Lost towns' discovered in Amazon

'Lost towns' discovered in Amazon

A remote area of the Amazon river basin was once home to densely populated towns, Science journal reports.

The Upper Xingu, in west Brazil, was once thought to be virgin forest, but in fact shows traces of extensive human activity.

Researchers found evidence of a grid-like pattern of settlements connected by road networks and arranged around large central plazas.

There are signs of farming, wetland management, and possibly fish farms.

The settlements are now almost completely overgrown by rainforest.

The full article is available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7586860.stm

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semillama

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Fri Aug-29-08 09:07 AM
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1. They speculate the communities were wiped out by communicable diseases

introduced by Europeans.

Pretty interesting stuff. These settlements also seemed to use Terra Prieta Indios or "Indian Black Earth" which is incredibly rich due to all the organic remains and charcoal mixed into it. Check out the latest Nat Geo for more on that.

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phantom power

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Fri Aug-29-08 11:08 AM
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2. I often wonder how things would have been...

if the native americans had been resistant to smallpox. I like to think that they would have maintained political control of the americas.

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semillama

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Fri Aug-29-08 11:15 AM
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3. They almost certainly would have.

The population densities were so great that without disease, the Spanish conquistadors would not have had much of a tactical advantage in the field against the Aztecs and Incas, even with firearms.

And of course, the East coast wouldn't have been easy to colonize with all the people that would have been living there already.

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