Scientists have discovered a cluster of lost cities in the Amazon rainforest, where at least 10,000 people lived about 2,500 years ago. This was reported by France 24, according to UNN.
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Recent mapping using laser sensor technology has shown that these sites were part of a network of settlements and roads located in the forested foothills of the Andes.
According to the researchers, the settlements were occupied by the Upano people between about 500 BC and 300-600 AD, a period that roughly coincides with the Roman Empire in Europe.
Residential and ceremonial buildings, built on more than 6,000 earthen embankments, surrounded agricultural fields with drainage channels. The largest roads were 33 feet (10 meters) wide and stretched for 6-12 miles (10-20 kilometers).
Although it is difficult to estimate the population, the site was home to at least 10,000 inhabitants - and perhaps as many as 15,000 or 30,000 at its peak. This is comparable to the approximate population of Roman-era London, Britain's largest city,
Jose Iriarte, an archaeologist from the University of Exeter (UK), noted that the construction of roads and thousands of earth mounds required a complex system of organized labor.
Scientists note that the Incas and Mayans built with stone, but people in the Amazon usually did not have it for construction - they built with clay. The Amazon is often considered an "untouched desert" where only small groups of people lived. But recent discoveries have shown us how much more complex the past really is.