The Amazon rainforest is still a wondrous and mysterious place with undiscovered secrets still yet to be found. However, archeologists recently found what may be one of the biggest finds in recent memory, unearthing a collection of ancient cities more than two millennia old.
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00:00the amazon rainforest is still a wondrous and mysterious place with undiscovered secrets still
00:09yet to be found however archaeologists recently found what may be one of the biggest finds in
00:14recent memory unearthing a collection of ancient cities more than two millennia old investigators
00:19looked at data from more than 20 years of research in the area and employed lidar or
00:24light detection and ranging to map out the whole network the researchers say the cities included
00:29massive systems of farmland and roads throughout the foothills of the andes in the amazon adding
00:34that they were inhabited from around 500 bce to around 300 to 600 ce with the researchers writing
00:40in their paper quote this research revealed the largest urban network of erected and excavated
00:45features known in amazonia whose beginnings date back to 2500 years ago the cluster of ancient cities
00:51covered an area around 115 square miles with the researchers saying this is a huge step forward for
00:57better understanding ancient cultures in the area as previous estimates have suggested 90 of the
01:03human history in the amazon remains a mystery so far they've uncovered 15 cities connected by roads
01:09all built atop 6 000 platforms areas between these settlements were also used for agriculture
01:14with the lidar data revealing these swaths of land had been drained for the growing of maize beans
01:19sweet potatoes and cassava