Vast network of lost ancient cities discovered in the Amazon

Archaeologists found a 2,500-year-old lost civilisation of farmers, challenging notions that there were only hunter-gatherers in the region at the time

The vast site, long hidden by the jungle, contained cities are criss-crossed by large, straight streets – ‘just like in New York’, one researcher says

Reading Time:2 minutes

This Lidar image shows complexes of rectangular platforms arranged around low squares and distributed along wide dug streets at the Kunguints site, in the Upano Valley in Ecuador. Image: Antoine Dorison, Stephen Rostain via AP

Published: 5:04am, 13 Jan 2024Updated: 5:53am, 13 Jan 2024

Archaeologists have discovered the largest and oldest network of pre-Hispanic cities ever found in the Amazon rainforest, revealing a 2,500-year-old lost civilisation of farmers.

The vast site, which covers more than 1,000 sq km (385 square miles), was long hidden by the jungle in the Upano valley on the foothills of the Andes mountain range in eastern Ecuador.

However, a French-led team of researchers have used laser-mapping technology taken from above, as well as archaeological excavations, to uncover 20 settlements – including five large cities – connected by roads.

Stephen Rostain, an archaeologist at France’s CNRS research centre and the lead author of a new study, said it was like discovering “El Dorado”.

This Lidar image provided by researchers shows a main street crossing an urban area, creating an axis along which complexes of rectangular platforms are arranged around low squares at the Copueno site, Upano Valley in Ecuador. Image: Antoine Dorison, Stephen Rostain via AP

The scale of this urban development – which includes earthen homes, ceremonial buildings and agricultural draining – has never been seen before in the Amazon, Rostain said.