FALSE — Is the Amazon's 'Lost City' on Google Earth?

Analysis summary

The 2024 discovery of the Upano Valley cities was made using LiDAR technology to penetrate the forest canopy, which standard optical satellite imagery like Google Earth cannot do.

Key findings

• The 'Lost City' in the Upano Valley was discovered using LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), a technology that uses laser pulses to 'see through' dense forest canopies to map the ground below.
• Standard satellite imagery used by Google Earth only captures the top of the rainforest canopy, making the ancient structures and roads completely invisible to the naked eye or optical sensors.
• While some Amazonian 'geoglyphs' in deforested areas of Brazil have been spotted using Google Earth, the 2024 Upano Valley urban complex remains hidden under thick, primary jungle.
• Archaeologists spent decades exploring the site on the ground without realizing its full scale; it was only the 2024 LiDAR data that revealed the interconnected network of over 6,000 platforms.

Citations