Upano Valley sites facts for kids
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| Location | Morona-Santiago Province, Ecuador |
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| Region | Upano River valley |
| Coordinates | 2°08′S 78°05′W / 2.13°S 78.09°W |
| Area | 300 km2 (120 sq mi) |
| History | |
| Founded | (Catalan) |
| Abandoned | between 300 AD and 600 AD |
| Cultures | Kilamope, Upano |
The Upano Valley sites are a group of ancient cities found hidden in the Amazon rainforest. They are located in the Upano River valley, which is in eastern Ecuador. These sites are very old, possibly settled as early as 500 BC. This makes them much older than any other complex societies we knew about in the Amazon.
Contents
Discovering the Ancient Cities
People first found signs of old settlements in the Upano Valley back in the 1970s. An archaeologist named Stéphen Rostain, from France, started digging there in the 1990s.
The search for these sites became much faster after 2015. That year, the government of Ecuador paid for a special survey using LIDAR technology. LIDAR uses lasers to create detailed maps of the ground, even through thick forest. This helped scientists find many more hidden settlements. Rostain's team shared their amazing discoveries from the LIDAR survey in a science magazine called Science in January 2024.
What the Ancient Cities Looked Like
The known ancient sites spread out over about 300 square kilometers (116 square miles) in the Upano River valley. Rostain's team found fifteen settlements in total. Five of these were very large cities. They focused their digging on two main settlements called Kilamope and Sangay.
City Layout and Buildings
The main part of Kilamope was huge, similar in size to the famous Giza Plateau in Egypt. The people built their homes and other structures on rectangular platforms. These platforms were made by digging out and flattening the tops of hills. Scientists found around 6,000 of these platforms!
On top of these platforms, structures were built in groups of three to six. Most of these buildings were likely homes. However, some might have been used for special ceremonies. Inside the platforms, archaeologists found old fireplaces, pits, jars, and stones used to grind plants. They also found burned seeds. The platforms were about 20 meters (66 feet) long, 10 meters (33 feet) wide, and 2 to 3 meters (7 to 10 feet) high. One large platform at Kilamope was 140 meters (459 feet) long and 40 meters (131 feet) wide.
Roads and Defenses
A network of roads connected the different parts of the valley. Some of these roads stretched as far as 25 kilometers (16 miles)! Around some of the settlements, scientists saw ditches and barriers on the roads. This suggests that the people might have built these to protect themselves from dangers.
Farming and Food
The ancient cities were surrounded by farmland. This included fields and terraces built into hillsides. The people grew crops like corn, manioc (also known as cassava), and sweet potato. These farming areas had a system of drainage ditches and canals to manage water.
Scientists think that the nearby Sangay volcano helped make the soil very rich for farming. This rich soil would have been perfect for growing lots of food.
When the Cities Were Built and Left
The Upano Valley sites were first settled around 500 BC. People lived there for many centuries. However, the cities were abandoned sometime between 300 AD and 600 AD.
Archaeologists believe that eruptions from the Sangay volcano might have caused the people to leave their homes. The volcano could have made the area unsafe or difficult to live in.
It's hard to know exactly how many people lived in these cities. One scientist, Antoine Dorison, thinks the population might have been around 15,000 to 30,000 people at its peak. Others believe there could have been more than 100,000 people living in the region.
The People of Upano Valley
Archaeologists call the people who lived in these sites the Kilamope and Upano cultures. We are still learning a lot about their society and way of life.
Scientists have found interesting objects, or "material culture," at the sites. These include painted pottery and jugs. Some jugs still had traces of chicha, which is an alcoholic drink made from corn. This drink was common in pre-Columbian South America (before Christopher Columbus arrived).
See also
In Spanish: Yacimientos arqueológicos del valle de Upano para niños
- Llanos de Moxos (archaeology)
- Lost city
- Lost City of Z
