Amazon rainforest hides thousands of records of ancient indigenous communities under its canopy, new study says
The Amazon, the world’s most diverse forest, hosts more than 10,000 records of pre-Columbian earthworks (built before the arrival of Europeans), according to a new study. Estimate the number and location where these structures are most likely to be found.
The paper is published in the journal Science.
The study was led by Brazilian researchers Vinicius Peripato and Luiz Aragão, PhD students in remote sensing at the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and conducted by 156 researchers from 230 countries on the four continents.
“Our research suggests that the Amazon rainforest may not be as primitive as many believe.Trying to better understand the degree of pre-Columbian human occupation, we are surprised by a significant number of sites that are not yet known to the scientific community,” Perry said.
After a team of scientists identified 24 new remains via advanced remote mapping technology using an onboard laser known as LiDAR (light detection and ranging), the sensor allows the restoration of surface elements into a highly detailed 3D model.
“From a 3D model of the surface, it is possible to digitally remove all vegetation and start an accurate and detailed survey of the terrain beneath the forest.”The team took advantage of a variety of LiDAR databases that they initially acquired for biomass estimation. “Given the wealth of information contained in these data, we have embarked on an archaeological investigation,” Peripato said. We surveyed a total of 0.08% of the Amazon and found 24 previously un-cataloged structures in the provinces of Mat Grosso, Acre, Amapar, Amazonas and Para in Brazil.”
Using all the earthworks found so far (961), the team quantifies the number of structures that have not yet been elucidated, with dozens of tree species dating back to 1,500 to 500 years. These structures are known as “earthworks” and were before the Europeans arrived on the continent.
They are also typically associated with other types of landscape modifications, confirming the existence of indigenous occupations in various regions of the Amazon (for example, evidence such as the dark earth of the Amazon and the presence of domesticated species).
“We predict that 90% of Amazon forests are very unlikely to have earthworks,” says Hans ter Steege of the Naturalis Biodiversity Center and Utrecht University.
Carolina Levis, of the Federal University of Santa Catarina, said, “Previously ecologists viewed the Amazon as a vast, unspoiled forest, but now, by combining other types of pre-Columbian ruins, extensive engineering work by pre-Columbian societies, and the use of plants, the number of areas that currently maintain dense forests has already increased.” It will be.”You can see that you’re doing it.”You can see that they are exposed to cultivation and domestication. These people have mastered sophisticated techniques for the management of land and plants, and in some cases have new “ways” to coexist with forests without the need for destruction.
All of the above quantitative results, including the information provided by the title of the paper, were obtained after applying a methodology recently developed by Guido Moreira, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro to a doctoral dissertation in statistics by Dani Gamerman. Using the Bayesian approach to statistics, we propose an accurate regression analysis for the observed occurrence of pre-Columbian earthworks. Accuracy is achieved by using data augmentation mechanisms that include soil mounds and their observability patterns that have not yet been observed.
So far, these earthworks have been commonly found through Google Earth images. But because of the challenge of studying the vastness and remoteness of the Amazon rainforest, the study presents testable predictions about the little-known locations of the Amazon where new fieldwork can reveal monumental-sized archaeological remains still well preserved in the forest.
luizaragão, research leader and head of the Earth Observation and Geographic Information Department at INPE1, said:”This study represents significant technological and scientific progress. The study covers 3 key areas, including archaeology itself with new discoveries, environmental science by demonstrating the level of human interference in areas that may affect current functions and future modeling, and, finally, the field of applied computing, which has enabled the analysis of millions of points present in LIDAR data and statistical modeling of the distribution of studied features. It covers all aspects of your business. You will be able to make the most of it. It will be so.”
This groundbreaking study also has political implications for the current debate on the timeline of the land boundaries of Brazil’s indigenous peoples. “In an era of debate over regulatory frameworks for property and indigenous land rights, this study provides much evidence of indigenous peoples’ occupation of the Amazon rainforest from their ancestors, their way of life and the relationship they have established with forests,” the authors said. “The protection of their territory, language, culture and heritage should be understood as ancient and not tied to very recent dates.”.