At one time, the area in western Brazil was thought to have been left untouched by humans, but a team of researchers have proved otherwise using a combination of satellite imagery and on-the-ground archaeology.

The team, led by anthropologist Professor Mike Heckenberger, has uncovered evidence of interlinking towns and villages that covered the rainforest between 1200 and 1600 AD. ‘These are not cities, but this is urbanism, built around towns,’ Heckenberger, from the University of Florida, told BBC News.

The research shows the communities were involved in farming, wetland management and, possibly, aquaculture. Each town or village was aligned to the mid-summer solstice through a main road that ran from northeast to southwest and led to a central plaza.

There is little left of the settlements now – only the remains of the earth walls that would have surrounded the city, pottery shards and patches of ‘dark earth’, indicating past human waste dumps or farming. It’s thought that early European settlers, and the diseases they carried with them, killed off the inhabitants.

The local Kuikuro tribe – believed to be directly descended from those who built the towns – can point out remains, even though they are largely invisible. The researchers hope their discoveries will aid with sustainable development in the area, while adding to the debate about the impact of humans on their surroundings.

November 2008