Hundreds of newly mapped geoglyphs reveal the remarkable scale of an ancient civilization that transformed southwestern Amazonia. LiDAR Mapped Geometric Structures Beneath the TreesThe researchers used LiDAR, short for light detection and ranging, to examine land that conventional aerial photographs cannot show clearly. Site Numbers Support a Population in the MillionsArchaeologists had documented about 1,700 geoglyphs in the region before the latest survey. “The Nazca geoglyphs represent a different phenomenon and were probably unrelated to the Aquiry civilization,” Pärssinen said. Archaeological evidence dates the abandonment of the Aquiry centers to approximately A.D. 850 to 950.