Claims › Amazon & LiDAR lost cities › Upano Valley, Ecuador: the oldest known urban network in the Amazon
Upano Valley, Ecuador: the oldest known urban network in the Amazon
The claim: LiDAR shows a regional network of platform towns and roads in Ecuador's Upano Valley, built from about 500 BCE, centuries earlier than other known Amazonian urban systems.
Why this label: Published in Science in January 2024 by Stéphen Rostain and colleagues after more than two decades of fieldwork plus LiDAR. The dates come from excavation.
Background
The sites sit on terraces above the Upano River below the active Sangay volcano. The authors compare the scale to Maya urban systems. Some mounds were reoccupied by later Huapula groups between 800 and 1200 CE.
What has been measured
Dates, measurements and documented findings, kept separate from interpretation.
- About 300 km² surveyed; more than 6,000 platforms; roads up to tens of km; construction c. 500 BCE to 300–600 CE (Kilamope and Upano cultures). [1]
Evidence and arguments for
- Excavated house floors, hearths, storage pits and pottery confirm settled agricultural life (maize, beans, manioc, sweet potato). [1]
Evidence and arguments against, or limits
- Exact population and how many platforms were in use at the same time are not yet known. [1]
Open questions & what would change the label
Whether an eruption of Sangay ended the Upano culture, and whether LiDAR beyond the surveyed area shows a still larger network.
Sites
Related claims
Sources
- Rostain, S. et al. (2024). Two thousand years of garden urbanism in the Upper Amazon. Science 383. doi:10.1126/science.adi6317 data
More in this section: Amazon & LiDAR lost cities.
Sources checked against Crossref and publisher pages on 2026-10-22. Labels describe the claim, not the people who hold it. Methodology.