Hundreds of Stonehenge-Like Monuments Found In The Amazon Rainforest (yahoo.com)

turkeydance quotes The Telegraph: Hundreds of ancient earthworks resembling those at Stonehenge were built in the Amazon rainforest, scientists have discovered after flying drones over the area. The findings prove for the first time that prehistoric settlers in Brazil cleared large wooded areas to create huge enclosures meaning that the 'pristine' rainforest celebrated by ecologists is actually relatively new.
The researchers believe the monuments appeared roughly 2,000 years ago -- so after Stonehenge (by about 2,500 years). "It is thought they were used only sporadically," reports the BBC, "possibly as ritual gathering places similar to the Maya pyramids of Central America, or Britain's own Stonehenge."

Comments

Only the earthworks are visible

[Hognoxious]

Only the earthworks are visible. Seems somebody messed up on the units for the stones.

The educated left strikes again

[Pinky's Brain]

"It should instead serve to highlight the ingenuity of past subsistence regimes that did not lead to forest degradation, and the importance of indigenous knowledge for finding more sustainable land-use alternatives”.

Brazilian's current population is larger than it was then and the standard of living they aspire to is higher. Jennifer Watling begrudging Brazilian's use of their natural resource to work themselves up, while living in Europe which our ancestors deforested long ago is retarded.

They don't wish to live as subsistence farmers did 2000 years ago.

Re:The educated left strikes again

[Mashiki]

It's the "noble savage" narrative. You see that a lot with regards to natives here in North America too. People like to pretend that they didn't engage in genocide, mass-rape, mass-slavery, clear cutting of forests, clear-plains burning, mass-murder of native species(note names like smashed in head buffalo jump and so on).

Re:"pristine' rainforest celebrated by ecologists"

[MightyMartian]

Translation: I try to minimize the qualifications of people who say things I don't like to hear.

Not pristine? Baloney!

[duckintheface]

The article states that " the 'pristine' rainforest celebrated by ecologists is actually relatively new." The discovery shows nothing of the sort. This must have been funded by an oil company. Only a tiny fraction of the rainforest was cut and for only a relatively short time. As soon as the use of the sites stopped,the surrounding pristine rainforest reclaimed the sites. This was not a distrubance of biological significance.

Re: Not pristine? Baloney!

[duckintheface]

"Rainforests not untouched" and "pristine rainforest is new" are not the same thing at all. When we say the rainforest is pristine, that is really a statement about the biology being in its native state, as it was for millions of years. There is no reason to think that the rainforest scanned by drones is biologically different from that long-term rainforest biology due to these small, short term clearings.

The reason it matters is that development interests would like to devalue the rainforest in public perception so they can justify cutting it down for profit.