- The Llanos de Moxos in Bolivia reveals ancient human-made structures like causeways and canals, visible from the air but hidden on the ground.
- Lidar technology has transformed archaeology by allowing researchers to see beneath the Amazonian forest, uncovering urbanized landscapes of the Casarabe culture (AD500-1400).
- The Casarabe culture featured a hierarchy of settlements, with large primary sites up to 3km², connected by raised causeways and supported by drained-field agriculture.
- Amazonia was historically viewed as inhospitable for large societies, but evidence shows long-term settlement, plant domestication, and engineered landscapes like Amazonian Dark Earths.
- Lidar discoveries across Amazonia, such as in the Upano Valley and Acre, reveal diverse low-density urban societies with planned networks, challenging assumptions about sparse populations.
- Challenges in using lidar include logistical issues in remote areas, but it helps uncover 'lost civilizations' and supports Indigenous land rights.
- Unanswered questions include how Amazonian societies declined, their political organization, and connections with Andean cultures, with ongoing debates about causes.
- Future archaeological work with lidar and other methods may reveal more integrated networks, with potential for thousands of undiscovered structures.
- Amazonian societies managed forests sustainably, creating mosaics of managed landscapes without large-scale deforestation, offering lessons for modern environmental balance.
- The article emphasizes combining lidar with excavations, genetic data, and local knowledge to understand past human experiences and ecological interactions.