15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
However, modern archaeologists, using advanced technology has made some astonishing discoveries about the Amazon basin, which have forced experts to rewrite the history books. Using satellite imagery and other technologies they have identified a large number of settlements. Many of them now are little more than large earth mounds. Before the arrivals of the Spanish and the Portuguese, these settlements were once home to a large population, especially from 1200-1500 AD. Archaeologists have unearthed some of these mounds and they have found evidence of pottery and other artifacts. It appears that they were once large fortified settlements.
Researchers have found dozens of these habitations, especially in Brazil, and there are probably many more. It is possible that diseases brought by the Europeans led to the collapse of these societies. Previously researchers believed that the Amazon could not support a large population, because of the lack of resources and especially arable land. However, the people who lived in the Amazon before the arrival of Europeans were very sophisticated and they even built a network of roads in what is today near-impenetrable forest .<ref>Heckenberger, et al, "Amazonia 1492: Pristine Forest or Cultural Parkland?", Science (2003), pp. 1710–14</ref>.
Archaeologists have found evidence that the people created a system of gardens, which allowed them to grow food in the heart of the Jungle. Moreover, they have also found evidence of fish-farming. It has been estimated based on the dimensions of the settlements that they could be home to thousands of people. Not all of the Amazon is not pristine virgin forest and is an environment that was much influenced by human activity, for millennia. It is believed that these cultures went into decline when diseases brought by the Europeans, caused the population to collapse. It is believed that the original inhabitants of these settlements or ‘cities’ are the ancestors of the tribal people who now live in the jungle.<ref> Heckenberger, et al, 1739</ref> Moreover, the Amazon jungle has many deposits of gold. The stories of the settlements in the jungle and gold mines may have played a crucial role in the development of the legend of El Dorado. Indeed, one of these jungle cities could have been the model for the Lost City.
