ANCIENT CITIES IN SOUTH AMERICA SOFTWARE

There, in an area now dubbed the вЂњ Sacred City of Caral-Supe,вЂќ lie the remains of not only a once-thriving city but the remnants of massive pyramids, some of which were contemporaneous with those of Egypt.ДЄrcheological excavations have revealed enough evidence to suggests that Caral is the oldest urban center in the Americas. The city is believed to have been inhabited between the 26thВ andВ 20th centuries BCВ and encompasses a massive area of more than 60 hectares (150 acres).

The city, which we call Caral, was thriving metropolis more than 4,600 years ago.Д¬onsidered the most ancient city of the Americas, Caral was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site more than 11 years ago.ДЄrcheological excavations of the city and its surrounding have revealed fascinating information about the site. In a part of the world where there is usually too much or too little precipitation, the flow of water was meticulously planned and controlled via canals, dikes, and reservoirs.Thousands of years ago, at a time when EgyptвЂ™s Great pyramids were being built, a civilization in Peru was thriving in the Supe Valley, around 200 kilometers from present-day Lima. These highways were elevated to allow easy passage even during rainy seasons. Virtually all the Mayan cities were connected by causeways wide enough to suggest that they were heavily trafficked and used for trade and other forms of regional interaction. вЂњWith this new data itвЂ™s no longer unreasonable to think that there were 10 to 15 million people there-including many living in low-lying, swampy areas that many of us had thought uninhabitable.вЂќ вЂњMost people had been comfortable with population estimates of around 5 million,вЂќ said Estrada-Belli, who directs a multi-disciplinary archaeological project at Holmul, Guatemala. 250вЂ“900), the civilization covered an area about twice the size of medieval England, but it was far more densely populated. At its peak in the Maya classic period (approximately A.D. Courtesy Wild Blue Media/National GeographicДЄlready, though, the survey has yielded surprising insights into settlement patterns, inter-urban connectivity, and militarization in the Maya Lowlands.

ANCIENT CITIES IN SOUTH AMERICA SOFTWARE

The unaided eye sees only jungle and an overgrown mound, but LiDAR and augmented reality software reveal an ancient Maya pyramid. вЂњWeвЂ™ll need 100 years to go through all and really understand what weвЂ™re seeing.вЂќ вЂњLiDAR is revolutionizing archaeology the way the Hubble Space Telescope revolutionized astronomy,вЂќ said Francisco Estrada-Belli, a Tulane University archaeologist and National Geographic Explorer.

вЂњBut with the new LiDAR-based evidence from Central America and Angkor Wat, we now have to consider that complex societies may have formed in the tropics and made their way outward from there.вЂќ Surprising Insights вЂњWeвЂ™ve had this western conceit that complex civilizations canвЂ™t flourish in the tropics, that the tropics are where civilizations go to die,вЂќ said Canuto, who conducts archaeological research at a Guatemalan site known as La Corona. The ancient Maya never used the wheel or beasts of burden, yet вЂњthis was a civilization that was literally moving mountains,вЂќ said Marcello Canuto, a Tulane University archaeologist and National Geographic Explorer who participated in the project. Complex irrigation and terracing systems supported intensive agriculture capable of feeding masses of workers who dramatically reshaped the landscape. In addition to hundreds of previously unknown structures, the LiDAR images show raised highways connecting urban centers and quarries. The results suggest that Central America supported an advanced civilization that was, at its peak some 1,200 years ago, more comparable to sophisticated cultures such as ancient Greece or China than to the scattered and sparsely populated city states that ground-based research had long suggested. The project mapped more than 800 square miles (2,100 square kilometers) of the Maya Biosphere Reserve in the PetГ©n region of Guatemala, producing the largest LiDAR data set ever obtained for archaeological research.

Ancient cities in south america