Story perspectives

400 Ancient Amazon Geoglyphs Uncovered, Redefining Pre-Columbian Landscape

7/31/2026

Summary

Story summary

Archaeologists discovered nearly 400 unknown earthwork geoglyphs in the Amazon near Bolivia, Brazil and Peru.
The designs, dated 600 B.C. to 850 A.D., include circles, squares and roads, most about seven acres and the largest over 120 acres, and were mapped with lidar beneath the canopy.
The Nature paper, which challenges the notion that Amazon was largely untouched before 15th-century European contact, was called a study of landscape change by José Iriarte.

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Story summary

Archaeologists discovered nearly 400 unknown earthwork geoglyphs in the Amazon near Bolivia, Brazil and Peru.
The designs, dated 600 B.C. to 850 A.D., include circles, squares and roads, most about seven acres and the largest over 120 acres, and were mapped with lidar beneath the canopy.
The Nature paper, which challenges the notion that Amazon was largely untouched before 15th-century European contact, was called a study of landscape change by José Iriarte.