Experts have found a group of lost cities in the Amazon rainforest. The cities were home to at least 10,000 farmers around 2,000 years ago.
Recent mapping using laser (激光) technology revealed those places to be part of a group of settlements and connecting roads. The settlements are in the forested areas near the Andes mountains.
“It was a lost valley of cities,” said Rostain, who directs research at France’s National Center for Scientific Research. “It’s unbelievable,” he added. The Upano people lived in the settlements between around 500 BC and 300 to 600 AD. That was around the same time period as the Roman Empire in Europe, the researchers found.
Ancient people built on over 6,000 earthen mounds (堆) in an area surrounded by agricultural fields with drainage (排水) canals. The largest roads were 10 meters wide and went for 10 to 20 kilometers.
While it is difficult to determine populations, the area was home to at least 10,000 people, and possibly about 15,000 or 30,000 at its highest point. That is comparable to the possible population of London, then Britain’s largest city.
It would have required a complex system of organized labor to build the roads and thousands of earthen mounds. The Incas and Mayans built with stone, but people in Amazonia didn’t usually have stone available to build — they built with mud.
The Amazon is often thought of as a wild area with only small groups of people. But recent discoveries have verified that the past was really more complex.
Scientists have recently also found evidence of complex rainforest societies that came before European contact elsewhere in the Amazon, including in Bolivia and Brazil.
“There’s always been an unbelievable diversity of people and settlements in the Amazon, not only one way to live,” said experts. “We’re just learning more about them.”
【小题1】Which statement best describes the lost cities?| A．They are the oldest ever found in the area. | B．They were discovered by laser technology. |
| C．They were recognized in the map. | D．They are covered by a thick layer of dust. |
| A．They were engaged in agriculture. | B．They mainly made a living by hunting. |
| C．They devoted themselves to business. | D．They made use of rivers to develop fishing. |
| A．The cities’ large size. | B．The cities’ ancient history. |
| C．The cities’ large population. | D．The cities’ advanced agriculture. |
| A．Confirmed. | B．Ignored. | C．Replied. | D．Hoped. |
