Лазер сканнерын тусламжтайгаар хийсэн судалгаагаар Амазоны сав газарт сая сая хүнтэй эртний иргэншил оршин байсныг нотлох олон тооны байгууламж олдож, уг бүс нутгийн түүхийг дахин тодорхойлж байна.
Хельсинкийн их сургуулийн археологич Мартти Пярриссенээр ахлуулсан судалгааны баг Nature сэтгүүлд долдугаар сарын 29-нд нийтлүүлсэн судалгаандаа Амазоны ширэнгэн ойн гүнд нуугдсан 400 орчим геоглиф буюу эртний газар шорооны байгууламжийг илрүүлснээ зарлажээ. Энэхүү нээлтийг ширэнгэн ойн өтгөн ургамлыг нэвтлэн газрын гадаргууг 3 хэмжээст хэлбэрээр дүрслэх боломж олгодог Лидар (Lidar) технологийн тусламжтайгаар хийсэн байна. Бразилийн хойд хэсгийн 1,740 хавтгай дөрвөлжин миль талбайг хамруулсан судалгаагаар эдгээр байгууламжийг илрүүлсэн бөгөөд нийт талбайн 3 хувиас бага хэсгийг л судалснаас үзэхэд Амазоны сав газарт нийт 23,000-30,000 орчим ийм байгууламж байж болзошгүй гэсэн таамаглал дэвшүүлжээ.
Судалгааны үр дүнгээс үзвэл Акури хэмээх эртний иргэншил МЭ 100-300 оны хооронд оргил үедээ хүрсэн байх магадлалтай аж. Энэ хугацаанд Бразилийн хойд нутгийн 70,600 гаруй хавтгай дөрвөлжин миль талбайд 1.25-3 сая хүн амьдарч байсан байж болох юм. Тус иргэншил нь гол мөрний ай сав дагуу бус, харин өөр бүс нутгуудад суурьшиж, 300 орчим хүнтэй тосгодод амьдарч, эрдэнэ шиш, маниок зэрэг таримал ургамал тариалдаг байжээ.
Геоглифүүд нь хүн амьдрах зориулалттай бус, харин улс төрийн шийдвэр гаргах, шашны зан үйл, хөгжим, бүжиг болон спортын тэмцээн уралдаан зохион байгуулах зэрэг олон нийтийн цуглааны талбар байсан гэж судлаачид үзэж байна. Эдгээр байгууламжийг металл багаж, гаршуулсан амьтны тусламжгүйгээр босгосон нь эртний нийгэм хэрхэн хөгжилтэй байсныг харуулж байна.
МЭ 850-950 оны хооронд энэхүү иргэншил гэнэт мөхсөн шалтгаан нь одоогоор тодорхойгүй байгаа бөгөөд энэ нь Майя, Тиванаку, Вари зэрэг тухайн үеийн бусад иргэншлийн уналттай давхцаж байж болзошгүй юм. Флоридагийн их сургуулийн антропологич Майкл Хекенбергерийн тэмдэглэснээр, хүн амын тоо болон суурьшлын талаарх эдгээр мэдээлэл нь шинжлэх ухааны хувьд гайхалтай нээлт боловч бүс нутгийн хэмжээнд илүү өргөн хүрээтэй малтлага, судалгаа хийх шаардлагатай байгааг онцолжээ.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
The Amazon’s ancient past was far more complex and populated than scientists once assumed. Laser scans of the southwestern rainforest have turned up traces of an ancient society, the Aquiry, that may have counted millions of people at its peak, and apparently we’ve only seen a sliver of it so far.
For a long time, the go-to image of the Amazon was pristine, untouched wilderness, basically empty before Europeans showed up. That story’s been falling apart bit by bit as archaeologists keep digging into pre-Columbian sites, and this new find pushes things even further. It’s a discovery that changes the way we see the Amazon, showing just how many people may have lived there and how advanced their society really was.
The study, led by University of Helsinki archaeologist Martti Pärssinen, came out in Nature on July 29. The whole thing hinges on lidar, laser tech that can map the ground in 3D even through thick jungle canopy. Without it, honestly, none of these structures would ever have been spotted. They’re just too well hidden under the trees.
A Civilization Nobody Saw Coming
The team scanned 1,740 square miles in northern Brazil and found close to 400 geoglyphs nobody knew existed, geometric earthworks made of ditches and raised embankments. From that, they worked out much bigger estimates for the wider region. According to the study, the Aquiry civilization reached its peak somewhere between 100 and 300 C.E., and during that stretch, anywhere from 1.25 million to 3 million people may have lived across more than 70,600 square miles of what is now northern Brazil.
What makes this discovery even more surprising is where these settlements were found. These communities weren’t built along major rivers, which are usually seen as key places where large ancient populations developed. On top of that, the surveyed area is less than 3 percent of the whole Amazon basin.
If similar population densities existed elsewhere, researchers could be talking about tens of millions of people living in the Amazon before Europeans ever arrived.
Villages, Longhouses, and the Hidden Places Where People Gathered
Day-to-day life for the Aquiry seems to have revolved around villages of about 300 people, living in shared multi-family longhouses and growing crops like squash, maize, and manioc, plus Brazil nut trees and peach palms for fruit. The civilization apparently began around 600 B.C.E., that suggests it lasted for more than a thousand years before eventually declining.
The geoglyphs themselves were not where people actually lived, they were more occasional-use spaces. Martti Pärssinen told NewScientist they served as:
“venues for gatherings, political decision-making and displays of chiefly generosity, ritual dancing, music, feasting, athletic competitions and ball games.”
Some were simple, such as circles and squares, while others were more complex octagons and nested shapes. Most cover around seven acres, though a few stretch as large as 123 acres, with ditches up to 40 feet wide and 16 feet deep. They built all of it without metal tools or draft animals.
Then, a Fairly Sudden Collapse
So far, roughly 1,700 geoglyphs have actually been catalogued, but researchers think the real total could be anywhere from 23,000 to 30,000, far more than earlier guesses that placed the whole Amazon’s earthwork count at around 10,000. Pärssinen stated that:
“We do not know why the geoglyphs were suddenly abandoned between A.D. 850 and 950,” adding that “the available evidence points to a relatively rapid collapse.” This decline may have coincided with the fall of other precolonial civilizations around the same time, including the Maya, Tiwanaku, and Wari.
Michael Heckenberger, an anthropologist at the University of Florida who was not part of the study, called the new population numbers “mind-blowing” but still plausible. He also pointed out that there is a lot researchers still do not know about what surrounded these earthworks, and that the region clearly needs much more investigation.
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