Archaeology: Ancient Amazons laid out their villages like a clock face to represent the cosmos

Ancient Amazonians laid out their settlements in circles 700 years ago -- with radiating mounds and roads as may have represented the cosmos -- a study found. Experts led from Exeter used lidar-based sensing equipment mounted on helicopters to see below the canopy of the overlying rainforest in south Acre State, Brazil. The 35 mounded villages were constructed to the distinctive and repeated pattern by the ancient Acreans between around 1300–1700 AD. Deforestation and archaeological digs in Acre State has previously revealed the presence of large earthworks and circular mound villages. However, the full extent of the constructions, their layouts and their organisation across the region had been obscured by the dense forest until now.