Upano Lost City | 2500 years of hidden history

This sounds quite dramatic, doesn't it? A Lost city found in the Amazon rainforest. It can be very evocative of a pretty specific type of adventure.

When talking of a lost city, the imagery that pops up in our heads could build an entire movie, couldn't it? I can see some of us picturing scenarios where you have to step carefully and evade boobie traps that might catch you.

Or you might be the kind of person who likes the stories of Atlantis or El Dorado. And who doesn't like fantasising about lost empires where old treasures and knowledge have been kept for centuries or millennia?

And even though it is pretty attractive to think of lost cities that way, those discovered so far are way less challenging to visit. So, don't worry, you won't have to outrun a giant boulder. Actually, the one we are talking about right now is in the surrounding areas of a small capital city.

How old is it?

With the news, many questions arise. What the city looks like or how it used to work. But the most interesting question is about the age of this discovery.

According to BBC, the Lost City was likely settled in the Upano area around 500 BCE, but there's a chance it is even older. This makes Upano's lost city the older city found in the Amazon. The researchers also assume that the city complex was inhabited for at least 1000 years.

The rich soils nurtured by the Sangay sediments were probably the main reason the city settled there. It is also likely that the volcano eruptions forced the communities to relocate and disperse.

What does it look like?

The city in question is an enormous city complex suspected to be a commercial centre for different communities. Said communities were mainly nomads, but they also settled for long periods, which was the city's function. It was more or less a "floating city" where the population was always coming and going.

One of the most impressive achievements in the city is the complex road system. This road system consists of straight roads connected over a wide area with right angles. Think of how New York's streets are arranged to give yourself an idea of how the Lost City’s roads are arranged. And considering the topography of the zone, this is stunning since the most accessible option was to follow it. The Scientists leading the research suspect this might have ritual connotations.

Ditches, pits, hearths and other artefacts were found in the zone, meaning there was commerce and people relied on handicrafts. Also, some ditches were found in the city's access zones, which might imply that the city complex was also prepared for invasions. So, it is most likely the Lost City was a geopolitical centre of great importance.

How was the Lost City found?

The settlements were first spotted in the Seventies, and excavations were continued in the Nineties by Stèphen Rostain.

Rostain's hard work has been fruitful against his colleagues' predictions. They insisted there were no significant settlements in the Amazon, but time proved them wrong. Despite the insistence that it was just a tiny settlement, Rostain kept researching the zone and began excavations, which led to new discoveries every time.

After years of research, the Ecuadorian State agreed to pay for a LiDAR scan of the zone in 2014. This kind of scan uses lasers to map the zone and detect anomalies or changes in the terrain. Thanks to this, the massive urban complex was discovered. The complex is so big that Rostain said the Lost City was “El Dorado” for scientists.

All this research was published in Science on January 11^th, 2024, and Rostain and his team are already looking forward to exploring the surrounding areas to unveil more secrets.

How important is this discovery?

As said above, this city complex is the most ancient in the Amazon region, and not only that, but it is bigger than the well-known Mayan city complexes. This opens new possibilities for archaeological research and new ways to interact with Amazon communities.

With its size, the Lost City can show us how the ancient cultures that helped bring this city together interacted with each other. We can learn about the social and cultural peculiarities that led to this massive settlement and how were their practices.

A new way to see the Amazon cultures

When we talk about the Amazon region, many people tend to think of locals hunting with little to no clothing at all. And even if you can find communities which hunt and have limited communication with the outer world, they should not be overlooked.

The discovery of this city proves that there were old civilisations in the Amazon and that there was urban development and communities that could organise themselves to such an extent.

This changes the typical idea of the Amazon and the people who inhabit it. So, if anyone says they are savages, you can send them this blog to change their mind.

How can you visit it?

If you want a complete tour within the Upano region, not many visit it. Tourists generally don't go there often but, with the recent news, this will most certainly become a tourist hotspot. So even though we currently don't have tours in Upano, in the meantime, we can offer you tours that show you the local cultures. Sorry if you are like me and would like to see the city face to face, but it is just a matter of time.

So, if you want to meet more of the local cultures in the Amazon, we offer you a glimpse of the Amazon cultures by staying with families and learning about their lives with our tours: 7-Day Amazon Local Living and 4-Day Biodiverse Yasuni And Waorani Experience. On the other hand, if you want a more active tour, our 5-Day Amazon Kayak Discover Yasuni tour is the obvious choice.

So, this might prepare you for when Upano is open for more visitors and the general public. You wouldn’t like to interrupt science, would you?