Ancient City in the Clouds

Rio Abiseo National Park is over 10,000 feet above sea level in Peru’s Andes Mountains. It is known to hold ancient artifacts, which archaeologists are still uncovering. In 2025, they located over 100 structures that had previously been unknown. They are part of the Chachapoya civilization from between the seventh and sixteenth centuries.

The area was first found in the 1960s, and the national park was founded in 1983. During the 1980s, archaeological teams found 26 ancient structures. This new discovery of so many structures expands the knowledge of the Chachapoya civilization, known as the people of the cloud forest.

This civilization had sophisticated urban centers, ceremonial platforms, cliffside burial structures, and agricultural terraces. It also had a distinctive architectural and artistic language, which is displayed in circular buildings, geometric decorations and decorated burials.

Researchers used various forms of analysis to create a map of this site from 2022 through 2024. The site contained ceremonial buildings with high-relief friezes, views of the cloud forest, and mosaics depicting humans. Technology allowed them to see through the forest, map the area, and interpret construction techniques and layout.

Investigations confirm the Chachapoya presence as far back as the 14^th century with hints the site was used even earlier. A nearby network of pre-Hispanic roads connects the site to others in the region. It seems the civilization was part of a well-connected territory.

The remote location means that the site has been subject to minimal human intervention, which helps protect the history. Like many other sites in the region, however, this one is fragile and overgrown by vegetation.

While the team was there, it undertook conservation interventions to stairs and stone reliefs, as well as a partial reassembly of a perimeter wall. If enough archaeological teams started doing the same to site that they explore, these ancient cities might become habitable again.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/archaeologists-were-searching-a-forest-in-the-clouds-and-found-100-structures-from-an-ancient-city/ar-AA1Rzymu?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=692f2832a33a4d0c831eff647f741d05&ei=37

Mystery Foot

Remember Lucy, the fossilized skeleton of an ancient hominid found in 1974 in Ethiopia? Now the discovery of a mystery foot in Ethiopia suggests another unknown ancient relative lived in the same general area at about the same time.

The Burtele foot was named after the place where it was discovered in 2009. It was unmistakably different from Lucy, with an opposable big toe that somewhat resembled a human thumb. The fossilized foot indicates that its owner was skilled at climbing and spent more time in the trees than Lucy did.

Lucy’s species was more closely related to humans than chimpanzees. For a long time, this species was believed to be the ancestor of all hominids that came later.

The Burtele foot was a puzzle until scientists found new fossils, including a jawbone with 12 teeth, found at the same site. After identifying those fossils as belonging to Australopithecus deviremeda, they realized the Burtele foot was from the same species. So they had strong evidence that two closely related—but distinctly different—species lived in the same region at virtually the same time.

How did they share the same environment? Researchers concluded that Australopithecus deviremeda species spent much of its time in the forest. Meanwhile, Lucy and her ilk (Australopithecus afarensis) probably roamed the ground. It is likely that the two species had different diets and used their environment in different ways. Examination of the newly found teeth indicated that the Burtele foot species was more primitive than Lucy’s, with a diet of leaves, fruit, and nuts. They were unlikely to be competing for the same resources.

This discovery should remind us that human evolution was not a straight ladder. One species did not turn into the next. Instead, evolution should be viewed as a family tree with several “cousins” alive at the same time. Each species had a different way of surviving. We will likely never know if these particular species interacted.

As this family tree keeps growing with new species being added, it is hard to say which species were our ancestors and which were close relatives. Human evolution has a growing number of paths it might have taken.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/mystery-foot-suggests-a-second-early-human-relative-lived-alongside-lucy/ar-AA1Rha7w?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=6928fae6b3a04bd585a20b944d8846b3&ei=50