Indigenous societies are known to have occupied the Amazon basin for more than 12,000 years,but the scale of their influence on Amazonian forests remains uncertain. We report the discovery, usingLIDAR (light detection and ranging) information from across the basin, of 24 previously undetectedpre-Columbian earthworks beneath the forest canopy. Modeled distribution and abundance of large-scalearchaeological sites across Amazonia suggest that between 10,272 and 23,648 sites remain to bediscovered and that most will be found in the southwest. We also identified 53 domesticated tree speciessignificantly associated with earthwork occurrence probability, likely suggesting past managementpractices. Closed-canopy forests across Amazonia are likely to contain thousands of undiscoveredarchaeological sites around which pre-Columbian societies actively modified forests, a discoverythat opens opportunities for better understanding the magnitude of ancient human influence onAmazonia and its current state.

doi.org/10.1126/science.ade2541
Science
Staff publications

Peripato, Vinicius, Levis, Carolina, Moreira, Guido A., Gamerman, Dani, ter Steege, H., Pitman, Nigel C. A., … Aragão, Luiz E. O. C. (2023). More than 10,000 pre-Columbian earthworks are still hidden throughout Amazonia. Science, 382(6666), 103–109. doi:10.1126/science.ade2541