A LIDAR investigation reveals the existence of lost towns in the Amazon rainforest.

A study published in the journal Science claimed the finding of a dense network of pre-Hispanic urban centers in Amazonian Ecuador's Upano Valley.

The study authors used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) to locate a landscape of various colossal platforms, plazas, and a complicated road system that stretches for tens of kilometers.

LiDAR is a remote sensing technique that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (varying distances) to the Earth

Differences in laser return periods and wavelength measurements can be used to create a 3D digital map of the landscape and eliminate obscuring elements that may conceal archaeological artifacts.

The urban centers were occupied between 500 BC and between AD 300 and 600, according to the researchers, entirely uprooting previously held notions about Amazonian societies.

Prof Stephen Rostain of France's National Centre for Scientific Research told the BBC: "This is older than any other site we know in the Amazon." We have a Eurocentric vision of civilisation, but this demonstrates that we need to reconsider what culture and civilisation are."

Over 6,000 rectangular platforms (mostly regarded as the bases of ancient homes) have been discovered inside five large settlement clusters and ten smaller communities, all of which are flanked by agricultural fields and hillside terraces.

Image Credit : Stéphen Rostain and Antoine Dorison 

The integrated road system connecting the communities demonstrates their coexistence. These towns predate other advanced Amazonian communities, notably the recently discovered Llanos de Mojos ancient urban system in Bolivia.

While the actual population of the Upano Valley communities is currently unclear, the study authors remark the settlement density's large size. The amount of landscape change at Upano is comparable to the vast changes found in the Classic Maya "garden cities."