Lost civilisation in the Amazon may have numbered 3 million people
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- Aquiry civilisation built 432 geometric earthworks in the Amazon between 600 BC and AD 850, with lidar revealing nearly 400 previously unknown structures in a 4,500 km² survey area.
- Martti Pärssinen estimates the Aquiry population peaked between 1.25 and 3 million people around AD 100–300, based on the scale of construction required for average-sized geoglyphs.
- Lidar technology enabled the discovery by firing 30 laser pulses per square meter from aircraft, mapping ground features beneath dense forest canopy through small canopy gaps.
- Michael Heckenberger calls the population estimates 'plausible and extremely important, even mind-blowing,' supporting growing evidence of pre-Columbian urbanism in southern Amazonia.
- Charles Clement affirms the research solidly places a large-scale culture in the Amazon forest, noting lidar’s proven efficiency despite lack of full ground-truthing for all geoglyphs.
- Aquiry people transformed the rainforest by clearing land for earthworks and roads, burning bamboo forests to grow maize, squash, and manioc, and cultivating Brazil nut and peach palm trees.
Why it matters: The evidence of a population up to 3 million reshapes understanding of the Amazon as a pristine wilderness, showing instead that ancient societies profoundly altered its ecology and structure—impacting conservation science, archaeology, and Indigenous land narratives. The scale of earthworks implies complex social organization long before European contact.
