Hundreds Of Ancient Earthworks Uncovered In Amazon Rainforest, Look Like Stonehenge

Scientists have uncovered about 450 ancient earthworks after flying drones hovered over the Amazon rainforest last year. The earthworks bear a resemblance to those of the Neolithic Stonehenge.

Hundreds of #ancientearthworks resembling Stonehenge found in #Amazon rainforest https://t.co/bUCv8vLD1a #Geoglyphs pic.twitter.com/IIbJAPUIdj

— Elaine Beare (@elainebeare) February 7, 2017

These geometrical geoglyphs were built by indigenous people dated 2,000 years, prior to the arrival of the European people. They are situated in the western Brazilian Amazon. The ancient earthworks were hidden by trees for centuries. On the other hand, there was this deforestation occurred and revealed their existence after drones flew over the area. The researchers from the U.K. and Brazil discovered them, according to UPI.

Jennifer Watling, a post-doctoral researcher at the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography at the University of São Paulo, said that the fact that these sites lay hidden for centuries beneath mature rainforest truly challenges the idea that Amazonian forests are "pristine ecosystems." She further said that they immediately wanted to know whether the region was already forested when the geoglyphs were built, and to what extent people impacted the landscape to build these earthworks.

The discovered earthworks resembled the Neolithic causewayed enclosures that were situated at sites like Stonehenge in Wiltshire, yet they are more regular. They are probably used as ritual sites or public gathering, among others, according to Dr. Watling.

Dr. Watling added that it is interesting to note that the format of geoglyphs, with an outer ditch and inner wall enclosure, is what described as henge site. She also said that the earliest phases at Stonehenge consisted of a similarly laid-out enclosure. The findings of the discovery were printed in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, according to The Telegraph.