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["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@intrex.net>]

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7586860.stm>
Page last updated at 21:37 GMT, Thursday, 28 August 2008 22:37 UK
'Lost towns' discovered in Amazon
Trench over a defensive ditch (Science)
The settlements show an advanced level of planning

The remote Amazon river basin was once home to densely populated towns and 
villages, Science journal reports.

This part of the Amazon, once thought to be virgin forest, has in fact been 
touched by extensive human activity.

Researchers found traces of a grid-like pattern of settlements connected by road networks and arranged around large 
central plazas.

There is also evidence of farming and wetland management, including possible 
remains of fish farms.

The settlements are now almost completely overgrown by rainforest.

The ancient urban communities date back to before the first Europeans set foot in the Upper Xingu region of the 
Brazilian Amazon in the 15th Century.

Urban planning

Professor Mike Heckenberger, from the University of Florida, in Gainesville, said: "These are not cities, but this is 
urbanism, built around towns."

"They have quite remarkable planning and self-organisation, more so than many classical examples of what people would 
call urbanism," he said.

Dam used to funnel fish into submerged weirs (Science)
In modern settlements, dams are used to funnel fish into weirs
Although the remains are almost invisible, they can be identified by members of the Kuikuro tribe, who are thought to be 
direct descendents of the people who built the towns.

The tell-tale traces included "dark earth" that indicated past human waste dumps or farming, and concentrations of 
pottery shards and earthworks.

The researchers also made use of satellite images and GPS navigation to uncover and map the settlements over the course 
of a decade.

The communities consisted of clusters of 60-hectare (150-acre) towns and 
smaller villages spread out over the rainforest.

Road network

Like medieval European and ancient Greek towns, those forming the Amazonian urban landscape were surrounded by large 
walls. These were composed of earthworks, the remains of which have survived.

Archaeological trench (Science)
Concentrations of pottery and earthworks were found at the site
Each community had an identical road, always pointing north-east to 
south-west, which are connected to a central plaza.

The roads were always oriented this way in keeping with the mid-year summer 
solstice.

Evidence was found of dams and artificial ponds - thought to have been used for fish farming - as well as open areas and 
large compost heaps.

The people who once lived in the settlements are thought to have been wiped out by European colonists and the diseases 
they brought with them.

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