Early urbanism found in the Amazon

Screenshots from a 3D animation of the Cotoca site © Heiko Prümers / DAI The impression in connection with the service is free, while the image specified author is mentioned. Archaeologists reveal pre-Hispanic cities in Bolivia with laser technology LIDAR Several hundred settlements from the time between 500 and 1400 AD lie in the Bolivian Llanos de Mojos savannah and have fascinated archaeologists for years. Researchers from the German Archaeological Institute, the University of Bonn and the University of Exeter have now visualized the dimensions of the largest known settlement of the so-called Casarabe culture. Mapping with the laser technology LIDAR indicates that it is an early urbanism with a low population density - the only known case so far from the Amazon lowlands. The results shed new light on how globally widespread and diverse early urban life was and how earlier societies lived in the Amazon. The study appeared. More than 20 years ago, Dr. Heiko Prümers from the German Archaeological Institute and Carla Jaimes Betancourt from the University of Bonn, at that time a student in La Paz, began archaeological excavations on two "mounds" near the village of Casarabe in Bolivia.