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These remind me of the circular homesteads I saw when flying over Africa. These homesteads were made of huts with a yard circled by a fence for protection and p

These remind me of the circular homesteads I saw when flying over Africa. These homesteads were made of huts with a yard circled by a fence for protection and penning the domestic animals. In a rain forest, it would make sense to dig a small drainage pit around the whole yard, and for added protection like a moat.

arethuza 10y ago
I guess that's just the natural shape for a small fort - circular to enclose as much area with the least wall and ditch/wall because you need to dig the earth to build/reinforce your wall from somewhere and a ditch adds to the effectiveness of your wall? They look very like the ancient settlements/enclosures that you get all over the UK - there are loads of them here in Scotland.
- irrational 10y ago
  Except they mention that there are few to no artifacts found in them, thus indicating that they weren't used as settlements/enclosures.
  - gus_massa 10y ago
    IANAA. I remember that it's very difficult to find ancient tools near China, because they probably used bamboo to build them. In other places, the people used stones that are more archeological friendly. So it's possible to find the tools and even the shard of stones discarded while building the tools. Is it possible that they can't find the tools here because they were made with some king of wood?
    - sulam 10y ago
      Tools might rot, but in general you'd expect to at least find middens, skeletal remains, teeth, scorched layers indicating a hearth of some sort, etc. There's non-tool markers for communities that will survive even in the rain forest.
  - lostlogin 10y ago
    I'm no archaeologist but here in NZ there often isn't a ton of archeology as much of what was used locally easily perishes with time - wood, flax etc. Possibly relevant but someone more informed maybe able to comment.
ucaetano 10y ago
Those are still quite common in the Amazon, especially inside indian reservations: https://www.google.com/maps/@-12.2486002,-53.5823203,458m/data=!3m1!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/@-12.2486002,-53.5823203,458m/da...
- greglindahl 10y ago
  ... they're common in Europe, too, just not recently used.

arethuza 10y ago

I guess that's just the natural shape for a small fort - circular to enclose as much area with the least wall and ditch/wall because you need to dig the earth to build/reinforce your wall from somewhere and a ditch adds to the effectiveness of your wall? They look very like the ancient settlements/enclosures that you get all over the UK - there are loads of them here in Scotland.

irrational 10y ago
Except they mention that there are few to no artifacts found in them, thus indicating that they weren't used as settlements/enclosures.
- gus_massa 10y ago
  IANAA. I remember that it's very difficult to find ancient tools near China, because they probably used bamboo to build them. In other places, the people used stones that are more archeological friendly. So it's possible to find the tools and even the shard of stones discarded while building the tools. Is it possible that they can't find the tools here because they were made with some king of wood?
  - sulam 10y ago
    Tools might rot, but in general you'd expect to at least find middens, skeletal remains, teeth, scorched layers indicating a hearth of some sort, etc. There's non-tool markers for communities that will survive even in the rain forest.
- lostlogin 10y ago
  I'm no archaeologist but here in NZ there often isn't a ton of archeology as much of what was used locally easily perishes with time - wood, flax etc. Possibly relevant but someone more informed maybe able to comment.

ucaetano 10y ago

Those are still quite common in the Amazon, especially inside indian reservations: https://www.google.com/maps/@-12.2486002,-53.5823203,458m/data=!3m1!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/@-12.2486002,-53.5823203,458m/da...

greglindahl 10y ago
... they're common in Europe, too, just not recently used.