The Alto Mayo ‘geoglyphs’ and Amazonian earthworks revealed by LiDAR

Record summary

AI-recalled; source quality 5; corroboration 0. Archaeological and remote-sensing research in the southwestern Amazon documented geometric earthworks, roads, ditches, and cleared landscapes often called geoglyphs. The findings matter because they complicate older assumptions that dense rainforest was largely untouched or incapable of supporting organized monumental construction. Comparisons with Maya lowland settlement can address labor, seasonality, mobility, and environmental management. Uncertainties include chronology, function, population scale, and whether all mapped features belong to one cultural system. Verification should use field reports, radiocarbon studies, and peer-reviewed landscape-archaeology work.