I already had this theory before reading 1491, but definitely after: any society that works with organic matter for tools will be underreported in the archaeological records. Civilizations in intensively organically active areas, same problem. And then we have ancient societies that have both problems.

We are never going to fully appreciate the extent of rainforest societies. We will get better at guessing, but we will always underestimate them unless we give them the benefit of the doubt.

Realistically, the only way for a society to leave markers for future archeologists is to alter its environment as much as possible.

I remember a few years ago they thought they had a temple on a hill and they discovered the entire hill was the temple. It was so overgrown they couldn’t find the base. If the environment fights back that hard...

I mean, you’re fighting entropy every day. Sounds like an eco paradise but is also hell for historians.

Infact, the Spanish built a temple on a hill in Cholula only to be discovered that it was actually a Pyramid!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Cholula

In the jungles of Central America, there are an unbelievable number of square pointy hills covered in foliage.

Abandon a stone city for 1000 years in the jungle and it gets pretty unrecognizable.

In this case the Mayan society had already gotten to a point where they were able to build monuments that have lasted thousands of years. I am not that surprised that had incredibly sophisticated agriculture on a large scale because how else would they support a large population in the cities?

Building structures that last thousands of years is somewhat easy and the default once you start working with stone; many past civilizations have accomplished that. It's our modern civilization that optimized everything we do in a way that makes it not last long.

We have extensive evidence that humanity had strongly influenced the Amazonian rainforest including a type of anthropogenic soil called "black soil".

That's not the common view: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/new-england-stone-wall...

Whether or not it's true, it's not at all impossible that the settlers built them all. Almost all of New England was deforested during the 1600s - 1800s. It has since reforested since the land was marginal to start with and was outcompeted by midwestern farms.

There were several hundred years for farmers to build stone walls out of annoying rocks; it doesn't have to be a mystery.

> outcompeted by midwestern farms..

with railroads to move the produce.. yes.

It was not fun to be a New England farmer after the end of the Civil War, economically. Things got difficult.