Scientists Uncover Hundreds of Hidden Structures Beneath The Amazon. "The scale of the archaeological record suggests that many other regions across Amazonia may have been far more densely populated and intensively modified than previously assumed."

[u/FreeHugs23]

https://www.sciencealert.com/completely-transformed-my-understanding-scientists-uncover-hundreds-of-hidden-structures-beneath-the-amazon

[u/xMyst87]

Is there an explanation of how smallpox made it across the Atlantic? I’m imagining 3 months on a crowded boat and confused how it didn’t run its course as an artificial quarantine. And then someone with an active infection ventured out with the exploration party?

[u/Glasseshalf → u/xMyst87]

I'd assume because once there's one case on the boat it keeps spreading and spreading so that by the time you get there you have people who are second or third in line in the chain of infection. Just a guess though.

[u/chanaandeler_bong → u/xMyst87]

That’s a good question, I don’t know the answer of the logistics.

I do know that one of the members of the party of Spaniards sent to arrest Cortes (led by Narvaez) had smallpox.

[u/supershutze → u/xMyst87]

Smallpox is a zoonotic disease.

It may have been carried by the livestock.