The jungle has protected them for thousands of years.
But erosion and especially modernity could well get the better of the thousands of earth mounds, vestiges of a vast Amazonian city some 2,500 years old, which has now disappeared, in the south-east of Ecuador.
Discovered in 1978 in the Upano Valley, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, this “
lost city
” extends over hundreds of square kilometers.
At the foot of the Andes mountain range, at its peak it included around twenty towns, connected by roads, and was home to a hitherto unknown agrarian civilization.
“
We thought they were simple natural structures
” some of which were “
razed to build roads
”.
“
There is an urgent need for a protection plan
,” argues Alejandra Sanchez, a Spanish archaeologist who has been studying this heritage for around ten years.
A plane to scan the ground
Already called by some the “Ecuadorian Machu Picchu”, the Upano site became famous in January when the reference journal
Science
published an article by French researcher Stéphen Rostain, who carried out excavations in the 1990s in what the media have wrongly described it as a novel “
discovery
”.
The publication evaded the work carried out over four decades by dozens of academics and archaeologists, as well as a project desired by the Ecuadorian state under the supervision of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage (INPC).
As part of this project launched in 2015, some 7,400 mounds of earth were identified using laser technology used from an airplane to scan the soil under the thick plant cover.
In the shape of L, T, U, or even square, rectangle and oval, these mounds served as the foundation of the houses - of which nothing remains - to protect them from the damp ground.
In addition to recently built roads, erosion, deforestation and agriculture also endanger these massifs which measure up to four meters high and around twenty meters long.
The Upano River, cradle of the indigenous culture of the same name, is the prey of illegal mining.
“
We looked with envy at the archaeological heritage of our Peruvian neighbors or in Mexico.
Today we are lucky to have it here, in the Upano Valley!
»
Alden Yépez, archaeologist from the private Catholic University of Ecuador
A river threatened by mining
The geomatics analyst of the Cultural Heritage Institute, Leonardo Auz, shows a digital representation of the relief of an area near the Upano River in the Ecuadorian Amazon, where monumental archaeological remains are believed to be located.
RODRIGO BUENDIA / AFP
As a preventative measure, the INPC will begin by demarcating the complex in the province of Morona Santiago, in the southeast of the country.
Depending on the version, it could extend up to 1,000 or even 2,000 square kilometers, says Ecuadorian archaeologist Alden Yépez, of the Private Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE).
“
We looked with envy at the archaeological heritage of our
Peruvian neighbors
or in
Mexico
.
Today we are lucky to have it here, in the Upano Valley!
», rejoices Mr. Yépez, who underlines its “
cultural importance
”.
For the director of the INPC, Catalina Tello, the understanding of this type of archaeological discoveries must be done "
in their context
", including in this case the local indigenous Shuar and Achuar populations who "
kept and took care of all these remains
”.
The man truly responsible for the discovery of the Upano Valley remains is an Ecuadorian priest and archaeologist, Pedro Porras, who first described these earthen mounds as a "lost city" in the 1980s. .
A city founded in 500 BCE
The Weilbauer-Porras Museum of the PUCE preserves the maps and black and white photographs of the prelate, his discoveries of finely decorated tinted pottery, or even a piece of volcanic rock carved into a half-animal, half-human shape.
For Mr. Yépez, also a professor at the PUCE, the nearly 7,000 mounds identified are the “
tip of the iceberg
” of a civilization which was perhaps even larger than imagined until now.
“
The idea that the Amazon was an unpopulated space
” or only inhabited by nomads is ruled out, adds the director of the INPC, because the discoveries testify to a political, economic and religious organization typical of great civilizations.
This ancient city would have been built between 500 years BC and 300 and 600 years later, thus covering the era of the Roman Empire.
According to the journal
Science
, the mounds were connected by a vast network of dug streets, straight and at right angles, both for commerce and for ceremonial purposes.
Alden Yépez estimates for his part that these would also be “
huge interconnected drainage systems
”.
“
One of the fundamental objectives was to evacuate precipitation, so there is a direct and wonderful correlation with the atmospheric characteristics of the area
,” the researcher wants to believe.