Okay, I'm going against the grain on the new 'lost city' find in the Amazon

Everyone's calling it a huge city, but the paper itself says it's a network of roads and platforms, maybe for ceremonies. That's not a city like Cahokia or Tenochtitlan, it's a big garden with paths. My team spent two weeks last fall trying to map a similar 'settlement' from LiDAR data in Bolivia, and it turned out to be a natural ridge formation. Have any field archaeologists actually ground-truthed this new site yet, or are we just going with the press release?

5 comments

5 Comments

richard_dixon1mo ago

Man, I feel that. It's all hype until someone gets their boots muddy.

margaret_taylor421mo ago

Remember when Dave bought that fancy tent?

parker_thomas1mo ago

Yeah, the "all hype" part is spot on. But honestly, sometimes you need to get your boots muddy to figure out what actually works for you. That fancy gear might be perfect for someone else's kind of trip. I've seen people swear by the most over the top stuff after it saved them in a real downpour.

patricia_mason1mo ago

You know, I used to think ground-truthing was overkill too until my own project had a "city" turn out to be a weird swamp. Parker_thomas is right about needing to get your boots muddy.

simons281mo ago

That "weird swamp" thing is too real. I once followed a map to a "scenic overlook" that was just a trash filled ditch behind a gas station. The online reviews swore it was amazing. Makes you wonder how many of those five star spots are just people not wanting to admit they drove three hours for nothing.