Archaeologist Eduardo Neves claimed that many of the features within the Amazon point toward extensive human development in an article published Wednesday.
Neves has studied human occupation of the Amazon for more than 30 years, and spoke of his discoveries to Mongabay in late 2022 and again in 2023. “The diversity of the Amazon, the presence of many large nut trees and fruit-bearing palm trees, is a result of Indigenous practices,” Neves explained.
While there’s an old paradigm that the Amazon rainforest is a highly limited biological environment due to the soil-type, this should be dismissed. “The Amazon rainforest is not only a natural heritage, but [also] a biological heritage,” Neves continued, noting that the idea the soil-type in the Amazon was far from an agricultural blackhole. New evidence shows that the region was actually a hotspot for various types of plant cultivation, and therefore, human development.
Seems like the Mayan’s were more advanced than we thoughthttps://t.co/HSclntT6oL
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 17, 2023
“Archaeology in the Amazon is pretty unique, as we not only work with the past, but also with the present and the future,” Neves continued in the interview. “Even in Brazil, the dominant view still is that the ‘green hell’ of the Amazon does not allow for cultivation and civilization. But archaeology tells a different story. People can live and flourish in the Amazon, but only if they do so in a very different way than we do today.”
Neves put the misconception within the dated paradigm stem from old archaeologists generalizing their understanding of the region. “[Archaeologists] compared the Amazon to other places in South America, such as the Inca civilization in the Andes or the Maya culture in Yucatán or Guatemala. There they saw monumental remains, while in the Amazon lowlands they saw nothing of the sort. The easiest way to explain this was to look at the environment: the rainforest, with its poor soil, did not allow for agriculture and therefore not for large populations and a complex culture.”
But these archaeologists overlooked the huge amount of raw materials present in the Amazon that are perfect for construction, but break down with ease.
“The paradigm only shifted at the turn of the 21st century. Today, we know that many features of the rainforest are in fact man-made,” Neves continued. (RELATED: Archaeologists Find Strange Structures, Potential Cult Sacrifices At Mysterious 7,000-Year-Old Site In Saudi Arabia)
Neves is not alone in his work. Writer and rockstar researcher Graham Hancock has said in conversation with the Daily Caller that far more research is required to determine what really lies beneath the Amazon. This work could be done with ease, using non-invasion LiDAR technology, but funding is required to get that done.
I also recommend anyone driving around rural neighborhoods of America’s southern states to see how plants are reclaiming everything from road signs to abandoned homes in this very wet springtime we’re having. If this can happen here, imagine what could have been lost out in the Amazon over the last ten thousand or more years.