More than 10,000 pre-Columbian earthworks are still hidden throughout Amazonia

Indigenous societies are known to have occupied the Amazon basin for more than 12,000 years, but the scale of their influence on Amazonian forests remains uncertain. We report the discovery, using LIDAR (light detection and ranging) information from across the basin, of 24 previously undetected pre-Columbian earthworks beneath the forest canopy. Modeled distribution and abundance of large-scale archaeological sites across Amazonia suggest that between 10,272 and 23,648 sites remain to be discovered and that most will be found in the southwest. We also identified 53 domesticated tree species significantly associated with earthwork occurrence probability, likely suggesting past management practices. Closed-canopy forests across Amazonia are likely to contain thousands of undiscovered archaeological sites around which pre-Columbian societies actively modified forests, a discovery that opens opportunities for better understanding the magnitude of ancient human influence on Amazonia and its current state

More than 10,000 pre-Columbian earthworks are still hidden throughout Amazonia

Indigenous societies are known to have occupied the Amazon basin for more than 12,000 years, but the scale of their influence on Amazonian forests remains uncertain. We report the discovery, using LIDAR (light detection and ranging) information from across the basin, of 24 previously undetected pre-Columbian earthworks beneath the forest canopy. Modeled distribution and abundance of large-scale archaeological sites across Amazonia suggest that between 10,272 and 23,648 sites remain to be discovered and that most will be found in the southwest. We also identified 53 domesticated tree species significantly associated with earthwork occurrence probability, likely suggesting past management practices. Closed-canopy forests across Amazonia are likely to contain thousands of undiscovered archaeological sites around which pre-Columbian societies actively modified forests, a discovery that opens opportunities for better understanding the magnitude of ancient human influence on Amazonia and its current state

Data from: Over 10,000 Pre-Columbian earthworks are still hidden throughout Amazonia

Dataset: This set of data and R computer codes were used to create the predictive model, figures, and develop analysis on the manuscript "Over 10,000 Pre-Columbian earthworks are still hidden throughout Amazonia" submitted to Science journal as a research article (DOI: ...ade2541). Please read the materials and methods sections on the manuscript supplementary materials, along with the data provided in the "Database" folder, to ensure reproducibility. Earthwork Predictive Model: The Inhomogeneous Poisson Process (IPP) model fit was performed using the 'fit_bayesPO' function of the 'bayesPO' library in R version 4.0.2. The model was developed by the author of the package Guido Alberti Moreira. Figures: Figures created from R computer codes presented on the Main text are inside the "MainText_figures" folder, and Supplementary material figures are inside the "SuppMaterial_figures" folder. Please utilize the instructions in the supplementary material in conjunction with the data in the "database" folder to ensure reproducibility. Dataset usage: It is free to use, but if you use this dataset in your work, please make sure to cite the repository and our paper properly. We also welcome users to invite us for collaboration. For the use of this dataset, please cite: Peripato, V. et al. Data from: Over 10,000 Pre-Columbian earthworks are still hidden throughout Amazonia (2023). DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7750985. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.775098