Institutional blog post for Untamed Amazon. Topic: discovery of 396 geoglyphs in the Amazon published in Nature on July 29, 2026, Aquiry civilization, LiDAR technology, 4,500 sq km area, structures up to 50 hectares. Goal: connect the scientific discovery to the cruise experience, positioning Untamed Amazon as privileged access to a territory of extraordinary historical depth. SEO: Amazon geoglyphs, Aquiry civilization, LiDAR Amazon, Amazon archaeology 2026.
The discovery that changed everything
A team of Brazilian and Finnish researchers from the University of Helsinki flew over approximately 4,500 square kilometers of forest in the states of Acre and Amazonas using LiDAR technology, a system of laser pulses that penetrates the forest canopy and maps the hidden terrain below. What they found transformed what science knew about the Amazonian past.
Of the 432 earthen structures identified, 396 were completely unknown. These are geoglyphs, large geometric enclosures surrounded by ditches and earthen mounds, built with planning, division of labor, and a technical knowledge that challenges any narrative of an uninhabited forest. The largest structure found covers nearly 50 hectares, equivalent to more than 15 football fields.
The Aquiry civilization: up to 3 million people
The researchers associate the structures with the so-called Aquiry civilization, a multicultural network that occupied parts of present-day Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia between 100 and 300 CE, with estimates suggesting a population of up to 3 million people. The geoglyphs served as ceremonial centers, spaces for political decision-making, and meeting points between communities spread across the forest.
The study extends the horizon further: researchers estimate that between 24,000 and 30,000 similar structures may be scattered across an area of approximately 183,000 square kilometers. What has been found so far is only a fraction of what the forest still holds.
LiDAR and the forest that reveals itself
For decades, the search for archaeological structures in the Amazon depended on satellites, which limited discoveries to already-deforested areas. LiDAR changed that equation: by emitting laser pulses from aircraft and measuring the return time of the signal, it digitally filters the vegetation and reveals what lies on the ground with millimeter precision.
The same technology that revealed the Acre geoglyphs has already been used in other parts of the Amazon to identify urban networks, roads, and agricultural systems that no human eye had seen before. Each new survey rewrites the map of the Amazonian past and deepens the certainty that the forest that exists today is the result of centuries of human presence and construction.
Navigating the Amazon with this knowledge
The geoglyphs identified in this study are in the southwestern Amazon, but the story they reveal applies to the entire basin. When the Untamed Amazon navigates the Rio Negro, the Tapajos, or the Rio Apuau, it passes through a territory shaped by civilizations over millennia. The rock paintings of Jau National Park, the ancestral knowledge of the Tuyuka and Wariro communities, the Terra Preta found along the riverbanks: all of this is part of a history that science is still learning to read.
Experiencing the Amazon aboard the Untamed Amazon means being present in one of the most historically significant territories on Earth. A place where forest and memory are inseparable. The 2027 dates are open for those who want to be part of this experience.
untamedamazon