^{By Dr. Inés Urdaneta / Physicist at Resonance Science foundation}

A very unexpected discovery has surprised the world. The Amazon Forest, thought to be a reservoir of wildlife and primitive indigenous settlements, was also the seat of advanced civilizations. By advanced, we mean that they were large urban societies with civic and ritualistic activities, in contrast with nomadic small tribes.

Using a remote-sensing technology called Lidar to map the terrain from a helicopter, researchers found that ancient Amazonians had built and lived in densely populated centers, starting about 1,500 years ago. The immense settlements stretch across some 80 square miles of the Llanos de Mojos region of Bolivia.

“The complexity of these settlements is mind blowing”, Heiko Prümers, archaeologist at the German Archaeological Institute.

The findings include 22-metre-tall conical pyramids and earthen buildings that were encircled by kilometres of elevated roadways and...