Humans lived in Amazon rainforest 'earlier than thought'
Humans lived in Amazon rainforest 'earlier than thought'
8 February 2017
Humans lived in the Amazon rainforest much earlier than previously thought, and even helped shape its biodiversity, researchers have said.
Swansea University's Dr Neil Loader and Emeritus Prof Alayne Street-Perrott, are among a team who have found ancient earthworks, possibly 2,000 years old.
The discoveries were made in Acre state in the western Brazilian Amazon.
Researchers from the universities of Exeter and Reading, and Brazil's São Paulo, Belém are also part of the team.
Their research investigated ditched enclosures which were concealed for centuries by bamboo-dominated rainforest until modern deforestation allowed the discovery of more than 450 large geometrical "geoglyphs".
More:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-38898611
Anthropology:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12292970
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Hundreds of mysterious ancient earthworks found in the Amazon
Melissa Breyer (@MelissaBreyer)
Science / Conservation
February 7, 2017
© Jenny Watling
Deforestation has revealed the large geometrical geoglyphs built over 2,000 years ago – their discovery holds valuable lessons for today.
The Amazon rainforest is so rich, so dense with trees, that the forest floor is constantly in the dark. The vegetation hides many things, from isolated indigenous communities who have yet to have contact with the outside world to, as has just been discovered, massive earthworks built over 2,000 years ago.
The ditched enclosures, in Acre state in the western Brazilian Amazon, were discovered during research by Jennifer Watling, currently a post-doctoral researcher at the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography, University of São Paulo. Hidden for centuries by trees, modern deforestation revealed the 450+ large geometrical geoglyphs.
The earthworks are spread out over roughly 5,000 square miles. And what they were used for is not entirely understood. Few artifacts were found during excavation, leading experts to discount the idea that they could have been villages. Their layout doesn’t indicate they would have been used for defense. They were likely only used on occasion, maybe as ritual gathering spots – but no one can say for sure.
More:
http://www.treehugger.com/conservation/hundreds-mysterious-ancient-earthworks-found-amazon.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+treehuggersite+%28Treehugger%29
Mysterious Stonehenge-like 'geoglyphs' found in Amazon rainforest point to ancient human settlements
Scientists have found ancient mysterious earthworks resembling the circular pattern of Stonehenge in the Amazonian rainforest that suggest humans may have lived in the region centuries earlier than thought.
Researchers from Universities of Exeter and Reading in the UK, and the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, discovered more than 450 large geometrical ‘geoglyphs’ that are believed to be at least 2,000 years old.
The earthworks remained hidden amongst the rainforest trees – in the ditched enclosures in Acre state of the western Brazilian Amazon taking up roughly 13,000 km square of space – until modern deforestation allowed the discovery.
The findings suggest indigenous people lived in the Amazon long before European people arrived in the region.
More:
http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/mysterious-stonehenge-like-geoglyphs-found-in-amazon-rainforest-point-to-ancient-human-settlements-776163.html
MYSTERIOUS GEOGLYPHS CAN TEACH US ABOUT THE AMAZON'S PAST—AND ITS WORRISOME FUTURE
ENORMOUS SHAPES ETCHED ONTO THE EARTH
By Rachel Feltman 7 hours ago
Modern deforestation has revealed more than 450 of these strange shapes
We know that the forests of the Amazon have a long history of human interference. Scientists have been studying the region's ancient geoglyphs—large designs traced into the ground with rocks and other debris—since the 1960s, when deforestation by cattle ranchers first revealed the stunning shapes. Because the geoglyphs only appeared once forests had burned away, it follows that the ancient artists must have burned their own trees to the ground to build them.
But according to new research, this knowledge shouldn't give us hope that it will be easy to bounce back from modern deforestation—which, in the past half a century, has destroyed around 20 percent of the Amazon rain forest.
The geoglyphs have been cited as a sign that Amazonian forests aren't meant to be kept "pristine". Some forests have evolved to occasionally burn. If the Amazon rain forest has been influenced by humans for thousands of years—and grew back just fine when swaths sat unoccupied for a few centuries—then is it right to say we should leave it alone entirely?
New findings suggest that indigenous farmers cleared their surroundings on a much, much smaller scale than today's cattle ranchers. So while the area might not be adapted to total seclusion, we should still worry that our excessive meddling will kill the forest for good.
More:
http://www.popsci.com/mysterious-ancient-geoglyphs-can-teach-about-amazons-past-and-its-worrisome-future?dom=rss-default&src=syn
