The Amazon may contain thousands of undiscovered ancient structures

亚马逊可能隐藏着数千座尚未被发现的古代建筑

Archaeological surveys have uncovered earthworks built by pre-Columbian societies across the Amazon, suggesting the rainforest isn't as pristine as we once thought

考古调查揭示了亚马逊地区先哥伦比亚时期社会建造的土方工程,这表明雨林并非我们曾经认为的那样原始
There are probably more than 10,000 undiscovered pre-Columbian archaeological sites hidden in the Amazon, researchers have concluded after surveying a fraction of the sprawling rainforest.

研究人员在对亚马逊范围内的一小部分雨林进行调查后得出结论,亚马逊地区可能隐藏着超过10,000个尚未发现的哥伦布前考古遗址。
The study adds to growing evidence suggesting
that the region isn’t a pristine tropical forest, but has been significantly altered by Indigenous societies that have inhabited it for more than 12,000 years.

这项研究进一步证实了越来越多的证据,表明该地区并不是一片原始的热带森林,而是被居住在这里超过12,000年的土著社会所显著改变过。
Luiz Eduardo Oliveira e Cruz de Aragão
at the National Institute for Space Research in Brazil and his colleagues surveyed 5315 square kilometres of the Amazon using lidar, a technology that uses reflected laser light to create a 3D representation of a landscape.

巴西国家空间研究所的Luiz Eduardo Oliveira e Cruz de Aragão及其同事使用激光雷达技术对亚马逊地区的5315平方公里进行了调查,该技术利用反射的激光光线创建了一个地貌的三维表示。

By beaming pulses of light into the rainforest, usually from planes or drones, lidar records slight variations in topography and has uncovered numerous archaeological sites in recent years.
通过从飞机或无人机上发射光脉冲进入雨林,激光雷达记录了地形的微小变化,并在近年来发现了许多考古遗址。
The team discovered 24 previously unknown earthworks in the areas it surveyed, which are thought to be the remnants of civilisations that lived between 1500 and 500 years ago.

团队在调查的区域发现了24个以前未知的土方遗址,据推测这些遗址是1500年至500年前的文明遗迹。
The discoveries include a fortified village in the southern Amazon, a region known to have been densely populated due to the high concentration of earthworks that were connected by ancient roads.

这些发现包括南亚马逊地区的一个加固村落,该地区因古代道路连接的土堡密集而人口稠密。

Defensive and ceremonial sites in the southwestern Amazon were also brought to light, along with permanent settlements and ceremonial sites with large stone structures arranged in circular clusters in the northern Amazon.

在亚马逊西南地区,防御和仪式场所也被揭示出来,同时在亚马逊北部发现了永久定居点和具有大型石结构的仪式场所,这些石结构呈圆形聚集。
The survey covered only 0.08 per cent of the Amazon’s 6.7 million square kilometres. Aragão and his colleagues used a computer model to predict how many other sites could remain hidden under the forest canopy, based on the concentration of earthworks in the new data and 937 earthworks previously discovered. They estimate that between 10,272 and 23,648 earthworks may lay undiscovered.

调查仅覆盖了亚马逊雨林总面积的0.08%(约为67万平方公里)。阿拉冈和他的同事使用计算机模型预测了森林树冠下可能隐藏着多少其他遗址,该预测基于新数据中的土方工程浓度以及之前发现的937个土方工程。他们估计可能还有10272至23648个土方工程尚未被发现。
The model analysed the typical characteristics of known earthworks, including the local temperature, rainfall, soil clay content and distance from the nearest river, to predict where others are likely to be. “These are the characteristics needed for building the structures, but also surviving in these regions,” says Aragão.

该模型分析了已知土方工程的典型特征,包括当地温度、降雨量、土壤黏土含量和距离最近河流的距离,以预测其他可能存在的地方。“这些是建造结构所需的特征,也是在这些地区生存所需的特征,”Aragão说道。
Most of the predicted structures are in the southwestern Amazon, many in the Brazilian state of Acre.

大部分预测的结构位于亚马逊西南部,其中许多位于巴西的阿克里州。
Emerging evidence indicates that the Indigenous societies that occupied the Amazon for more than 12,000 years were larger than previously thought, at one point numbering as many as 5 million people. It is unclear why the jungle cities disappeared centuries ago.

新出现的证据表明,占据亚马逊地区超过12,000年的土著社会规模比之前认为的要大,曾一度达到500万人。目前尚不清楚为什么这些丛林城市在几个世纪前消失了。


In common with previous studies, Aragão and his colleagues also found high concentrations of domesticated plants that yield nuts or fruits close to archaeological sites, suggesting these lost societies significantly altered the composition of the rainforest. This might mean predictions about how the rainforest will adapt to climate change could be incorrect, as it isn’t as pristine as previously thought, the researchers say.

与以往的研究一样,阿拉冈和他的同事们还发现了在考古遗址附近高浓度的果仁或果实类的栽培植物,这表明这些已经消失的社会显著改变了雨林的组成。研究人员表示,这可能意味着对雨林如何适应气候变化的预测可能是不正确的,因为它并不像之前认为的那样原始。


“There has always been this bias in Western thought that the Amazon was like a Garden of Eden, a primordial society that was inimical to human society,” says Michael Heckenberger at the University of Florida, who wasn’t involved in the study. “We are now seeing there was a significant degree of human intervention and variation just 500 years ago.”

“在西方思想中,一直存在着这种偏见,认为亚马逊河流域就像伊甸园一样,是一个与人类社会不相容的原始社会,”佛罗里达大学的迈克尔·赫肯伯格(Michael Heckenberger)说道,他并未参与这项研究。“现在我们看到,仅仅500年前,这里就存在着相当程度的人类干预和变化。”


The growing evidence that there were massive societies in the region before the arrival of Europeans could help protect the Amazon, says Heckenberger. Around 17 per cent of the rainforest has been cleared and some researchers believe it has already reached a tipping point where it no longer generates enough rainfall to support itself.

据Heckenberger称,越来越多的证据表明,在欧洲人到来之前,该地区存在着庞大的社会,这可能有助于保护亚马逊雨林。大约有17%的雨林已经被清除,一些研究人员认为,它已经达到了一个临界点,无法再产生足够的降雨来维持自身。


“If we’ve now demonstrated that even more of the Amazon forest is actually an artefact of cultural influence, the implication of that is that it’s the heritage of living Indigenous peoples and must be protected as these are their ancestors,” says Heckenberger.

“如果我们现在已经证明了亚马逊森林中更多的部分实际上是文化影响的产物,那么这意味着它是生活在这里的土著民族的遗产,必须加以保护,因为这些是他们的祖先。” Heckenberger说道。
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