The Amazon is not a pristine wilderness. In fact, there is increasing evidence for sophisticated town planning there long before Europeans arrived.
Michael Heckenberger at the University of Florida in Gainesville and his band of archaeologists (pictured) have uncovered a network of settlements around the Xingu River in Brazil. These hamlets were connected by criss-crossing roads that emanated from a central village that was probably more ceremonial than residential.
The dispersed pattern of settlements is unusual. The authors suggest that this arrangement, coupled with the power of Amazonian foliage to overrun abandoned sites, has perhaps blinded researchers to the extent of human impact on the rainforests.
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Archaeology: Amazonian urbanites. Nature 455, 5 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/455005c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/455005c
