August 30, 2008
Not-so-virgin rainforest
A remote area of the Amazon river basin was once home to densely populated towns, Science journal reports.This also caught my eye:The Upper Xingu, in west Brazil, was once thought to be virgin forest, but in fact shows traces of extensive human activity.
Researchers found evidence of a grid-like pattern of settlements connected by road networks and arranged around large central plazas.
There are signs of farming, wetland management, and possibly fish farms.
The settlements are now almost completely overgrown by rainforest.
Like medieval European and ancient Greek towns, those forming the Amazonian urban landscape were surrounded by large walls. These were composed of earthworks, the remains of which have survived.From the BBC. Related past posts here and here.Each community had an identical road, always pointing north-east to south-west, which are connected to a central plaza.
Posted by David on August 30, 2008 9:19 AM
Coincidentally, after reading your post I wended my way and found something closer to home when my attention was caught by New England reference. Seems our streams may run "chocolate" because of [previously ignored] Colonial constructions and farming, not so much by modern erosion -
*Standard notions of the 'natural' eastern US landscape with its meandering ribbon-like streams may be misguided*
"The researchers did not set out to redraw the image of pre-colonial North American landscapes. As they embarked on a field study with a group of undergraduate students, they expected to collect data on how farmlands were contributing to land erosion.
However, in the first stream they visited, they found layer upon layer of fine silt which suggested that the sediment was in fact quite old. They searched around and found a mill and a dam. Every new site they visited was the same."
Posted by: teqjack on August 30, 2008 6:12 PM
I hope that the Beeb is ashamed of this sentence;-
"The ancient urban communities date back to before the first Europeans set foot in the Upper Xingu region of the Brazilian Amazon in the 15th Century."
Posted by: on August 31, 2008 2:08 PM
cronaca.com