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Title: Deforestation Unveils Lost Amazon Civilization
Source:
Discovery.com
URL Source: http://news.discovery.com/earth/def ... -lost-amazon-civilization.html
Published: Jan 7, 2010
Author: Michael Reilly
Post Date: 2010-01-08 23:03:43 by buckeroo
Keywords: None
Views: 18936
Comments: 96
Who would've thought deforestation had an upside? Satellite flyovers of newly cleared land in the Amazon have uncovered a vanished civilization that could rival the Incans or Aztecs in sophistication. Researchers found mysterious geometric trenches and other earthworks carved into the landscape as early as a decade ago, but satellites have paved the way for the discovery of over 200 giant structures. Writing in the journal Antiquity, the researchers say the the formations stretch for some 250 kilometers (155 miles) across the upper Amazon basin east of the Andes mountains and appear to be of a similar style throughout, suggesting one vast, united civilization that could have totaled some 60,000 inhabitants. Researchers also found stone tools, bits of ceramics, and other artifacts buried in mounds along the trenches. So far, the uncovered areas date to between 200 and 1283 A.D., but the team thinks they've seen "no more than a tenth" of the true extent of this archeological wonder. More from an article which appeared Tuesday in the Guardian: "These revelations are exploding our perceptions of what the Americas really looked liked before the arrival of Christopher Columbus," said David Grann, author of "The Lost City of Z," a book about an attempt in the 1920s to find signs of Amazonian civilizations. "The discoveries are challenging long-held assumptions about the Amazon as a Hobbesian place where only small primitive tribes could ever have existed, and about the limits the environment placed on the rise of early civilisations." ElDorado2 They are also vindicating, said Grann, Percy Fawcett, the explorer who partly inspired Conan Doyle's book "The Lost World." Fawcett led an expedition to find the City of Z but the party vanished, bequeathing a mystery. Many scientists saw the jungle as too harsh to sustain anything but small nomadic tribes. Now it seems the conquistadores who spoke of "cities that glistened in white" were telling the truth. They, however, probably also introduced the diseases that wiped out the native people, leaving the jungle to claim – and hide – all traces of their civilization.
Poster Comment: There is no upside. The planet is unquestionably dying with the Arctic melting, the destruction of coral reefs and the average temperature climbing at rates that demand a complete stop to deforestation releasing CO2.Who would've thought deforestation had an upside?
I strongly recommend that for the preservation of all mankind that we consider methods of conservation quickly.
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#2. To: buckeroo (#0)
Wait... You're serious? You think the planet is dying? Maybe your planet, but the one I'm living on isn't. It's doing just fine, and when all of us crazy little humans are dead and gone, it'll still be here flourishing.
#3. To: TommyTheMadArtist (#2)
Yes. No question about it. Here is one chart describing deforestation: The forest is not being hauled away to make lumber. It is being burned; that series of manmade processes releases CO2 into the environment.
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Replies to Comment # 2. You think the planet is dying?
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