That 'lost city' in the Amazon might not be as big as they're saying

I heard a podcast interview last week with a geologist who worked on the Lidar scans, and he kept saying the mounds could just be natural formations with some human reshaping. He mentioned how the tree cover makes everything look more regular than it actually is on the ground. I mean, I'm not saying there's nothing there, but the hype feels way ahead of the evidence. Has anyone else read the actual soil core data from that site?

2 comments

2 Comments

johnson.faith14d ago

I skimmed the soil core data PDF last month, and it showed way more charcoal and disturbed layers than natural formation patterns would lol. That geologist might be underselling it based on what I saw from a similar lidar project in Belize where the hype matched the ruins after ground truthing.

the_nathan14d ago

My buddy said the same thing after his Costa Rica dig last year. Spot on.