Archaeologists have uncovered evidence that there were hundreds of villages in the rainforest away from major rivers, and they were home to different communities speaking varied languages who had an impact on the environment around them. Archaeologists from the University of Exeter found the remains of fortified villages and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs – man-made ditches with strange square, circular or hexagonal shapes. Experts still don’t know the purpose of these earthworks, as some show no evidence of being occupied. It is possible they were used as part of ceremonial rituals. The earthworks were probably made during seasonal droughts, which allowed forests to be cleared. Drier areas still had fertile soils, where farmers would have been able to grow crops and fruit trees like Brazil nuts. The research, funded by National Geographic and the European Research Council project PAST, is published in the journal Nature Communications and was carried out by academics from the University of Exeter, Federal University of Pará, Belém, National Institute for Space Research—INPE and the Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso.
