Traces of 'Lost Civilizations' Found in the Valley of Ecuador

In the 1850s, a group of botanists took risks to explore the Quijos valley in eastern Ecuador. They crossed the dense forest - so lush it was hard to find a way back.

The researchers think the area is the heart of the pristine forest that houses the civilization that never disappears.

However, they are wrong. The original Quijos people have developed advanced settlements and agriculture throughout the region. However, they vanished when the Spanish explorers came there in the 1500s.

With no human presence around it, the forest grows again. The process of the collapse of civilization and forest reclamation is described in a recent study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution.

The lost community

The Quijos Valley is located in one of the most diverse cloud forest in the world - along the pre-Columbian trade route that connects the lowlands of the Amazon with the high Andes.

Thousands of people lived there for centuries before the arrival of Spain. They cultivated corn, pumpkin, and beans. In fact, passion fruit can grow on bad soil at the bottom of the valley.

The researchers of this study found a small lake in the valley, then dug down to the bottom. They took sediments aged over a thousand years and found evidence of human civilization in its core.

In its oldest layer, scientists found pollen - which probably carried winds from valleys and woods to the lake. The juice comes from corn and other plants that grow only in open conditions and good lighting.