It’s a big old world that we live in, and there’s still new things being discovered.
Well, very old things actually. Like secret pyramids and little cities dating back to the Middle Ages - sounds like something from a film, right?
But it’s very real, and happened more recently than you might think.
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Actual discoveries of these small cities and ancient pyramids were made in one of the densest parts of the Amazon.
Last year, a journal published in Nature, claimed that a new type of advanced laser-mapping technology was used to penetrate the dense Bolivian rainforest of the region.
And thanks to this new research tool, archaeologists were able to make a landmark discovery.
With the history of this dense Amazon area previously relatively unknown, we now have evidence of town-like civilisations in the area.
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This is pretty exciting for researchers as it proves Amazonians did actually together in township-like structures before the Spanish set foot on South American soil.
Colorado State University archaeologist Chris Fisher said the new technology will usher in a new age of research in the Amazon, as per The Wall Street Journal.
He said: "This is the first of what I hope will be a huge series of studies that will blow the lid off of preconceptions about what pre-Hispanic polities looked like in the Amazon in terms of their complexity, size and density."
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Dr Fisher explained that before Hispanic occupation in the 16th century it was believed Amazonians lived in small groups with limited social development and agricultural systems.
However, this landmark discovery indicates that may not have been the case.
Dr Fisher added: "These sites are pushing the boundaries of what we would call cities."
Scientists from both Germany and the UK searched six regions of the Amazon in Bolivia using a helicopter equipped with light detection and ranging equipment.
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The new type of research has paid them back in spades, with 26 settlements revealed to them in unprecedented new detail.
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Of the 26 sites, 11 were previously unknown to scientists.
The path to this incredible new technology came nearly 16 years ago when Dr Fisher was in the beginning stages of unearthing an ancient 'megalopolis' in Mexico.
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The buried city was not something he could explore with his trusty brush, trowel, and string grids.
The find was huge, covering 26 square kilometres with as many structures as modern-day Manhattan.
Speaking to the Colorado Sun, Fisher said he remembers slumping in the baking heat after he had walked the outlines of the city.
He thought to himself 'there’s gotta be a better way'.
Now there is. And it is already paying off in ways the archaeologist could never have imagined.
He's now dropped his first research paper with the innovative new technology, which is sure to usher in a new age of Amazonian discovery.
Featured Image Credit: German Archaeological Institute/Getty Stock PhotoTopics: World News, Technology