LiDAR survey reveals over 20,000 precolonial earthworks beneath the Amazon

A study published in Nature on 29 July 2026 used airborne LiDAR — laser pulses fired through the canopy from aircraft — to map more than 20,000 precolonial earthworks across the Brazilian state of Amazonas. The structures include fortified villages, ceremonial plazas and road networks, evidence of organised, settled societies previously hidden by jungle growth.