'Completely Transformed My Understanding': Scientists Uncover Hundreds of Hidden Structures Beneath the Amazon

A new airborne LIDAR survey in southwestern Amazonia mapped 4,497 square kilometers and found 432 earthworks, including 396 never recorded before.

The results suggest the Aquiry civilization in Acre, Brazil, may have covered up to 183,000 square kilometers and supported 1.2 million to 3 million people.

Researchers estimate the civilization could have built 24,000 to 30,000 earthworks at its peak, far more than previously thought.

The findings imply the southwestern Amazon was once far more densely populated and engineered, reshaping views of Amazonian history and rainforest land use.