Millions of people may have inhabited the southwestern Amazon rainforest roughly 2,000 years ago, part of an ancient civilization that archaeologists now suspect was much larger than previously thought.
The civilization, known as the Aquiry, likely peaked between 100 and 300 C.E. During the time, scientists estimate between 1.25 million to 3 million people inhabited more than 70,600 square miles of what is now northern Brazil, an area about the size of North Dakota.
Archaeologists came up with those figures based on the results of a recent aerial survey using lidar, a laser-based, remote sensing technology that produces detailed, three-dimensional maps of the landscape. They found nearly 400 previously undocumented geometric earthworks, known as “geoglyphs,” in a 1,740-square-mile area, which they used to estimate the Aquiry’s population size and geographic sprawl.
The findings, detailed in a new paper published July 29 in the journal Nature, add to a growing body of evidence showing that the Amazon is not an untouched wilderness but, rather, a landscape that has been shaped by humans for centuries.
If you want an actual dialogue, it helps to start with a solid premise.
The OP is about a 2,000yr old civilisation, and you’re talking about a tradition of “food forests” or some such? Show me a solid connection if you want me to take that seriously.
Or maybe you simply saw it as an opportunity to ramble on upon this or that… which is fine with me, and don’t let me get in your way.