Missouri archaeologists head to Brazilian Amazon to study ancient geoglyphs

Two archaeologists from Missouri State University are headed to Brazil this fall to study geoglyphs in the Amazon, part of an initiative they describe as potentially rewriting our understanding of ancient peoples in the region. Daniel Pierce and Christopher Bodine — both researchers with the Terra Incognita Research Institute — will join the GOJIRA project, short for Geoglyph Observations through Jungle Imagery in Remote Amazonia. The effort combines LiDAR-assisted mapping with on-site fieldwork to examine large ground designs that have remained hidden beneath centuries of jungle canopy. The expedition is being crowdfunded, a reflection of the researchers' view that traditional funding has grown harder to secure for such work.

Geoglyphs are large, manmade designs on the earth, often created from stones or mounded soil. In the Amazon, the shapes commonly consist of geometric forms such as circles, squares and crosses, with some geoglyphs ranging from about 70 feet across to roughly 400 feet. Many are so expansive that they can only be appreciated from the air, a reality that makes aerial imagery an essential tool for discovery. Deforestation in parts of the jungle has begun to reveal these features, and LiDAR surveys are enabling researchers to map and analyze them without disturbing the canopy.

Pierce describes the effort as "scratching the surface" of what remains in Brazil. He says the team does not yet know how old the geoglyphs are or who built them, but the scale of the features suggests a large, possibly interconnected landscape that could reflect a previously unknown civilization. "These glyphs are perhaps the first evidence we have of a completely unknown ancient civilization," Pierce said. "How did ancient people design them so perfectly to be seen from above, when they themselves could not see them from above? It’s truly amazing stuff." He also notes that the construction would have required immense labor: "They didn’t have modern tools. They didn’t even have horses to help carry the dirt. This would have been done 100% by carrying basket-loads of dirt one man at a time. Imagine how big of an undertaking this must be." Geoglyphs in the Amazon are often so large they require aerial views to be fully understood, underscoring the importance of LiDAR in the GOJIRA project.

The researchers are exploring whether the Amazonian geoglyphs fit into a broader pattern of large-scale societies. Pierce has suggested that the geoglyphs may be linked to a substantial, perhaps continent-spanning, settlement network rather than a handful of isolated sites. He has drawn comparisons to mound-building civilizations in the eastern United States, such as the Mississippians at Cahokia, while stressing that the Amazon findings are still preliminary. "This is scratching the surface of what remains undiscovered in Brazil," he said.

LiDAR has helped identify structures and features that were previously hidden under the forest canopy, enabling teams to propose new lines of inquiry about how these landscapes were organized and used. While the team cannot yet date the geoglyphs or definitively identify their builders, they emphasize that the discoveries could reshape our understanding of pre-Columbian history in the region. "We’re dealing with a frontier that remains largely unexplored," Bodine noted, adding that much of the Amazon geoglyph landscape may still lie beneath layers of vegetation or soil waiting for modern technologies to reveal them.

The expedition is also notable for its funding model. Crowdfunded research has become a cornerstone of Terra Incognita’s work, which Pierce describes as an effort to pursue science outside traditional grant pipelines and taxpayer support. "The Terra Incognita Research Institute … allows us to try to still do research without grants or using taxpayer dollars in any way," he said. "We are putting faith in a sort of new approach to research that doesn’t rely on tax dollars, grants, or even university support. Rather [we’re] making ourselves accountable to the public." He added that the project is not about profit but about exploration and public engagement, describing Terra Incognita as a "passion project" and emphasizing that people should expect to see results reach the public rather than stay behind academic doors. "We know people would never expect this type of research to be coming out of a university in the Ozark Mountains," he said, underscoring the group’s goal of proving world-class research can emerge from the Ozarks.

The project has already generated interest from people who want to support ambitious work in a region long described as one of the last frontiers in archaeology. Pierce emphasizes that the geoglyphs may reveal a landscape that challenges conventional narratives about the pre-Columbian world in South America and could foster new collaborations with researchers, local communities and educational groups who want to understand the region’s deep past. "This right here is a passion project," he said, reiterating that the team’s mission centers on discovery and public access to findings, rather than conventional funding streams.

As the team prepares to depart for Brazil later this year, they plan to continue documenting and sharing findings as they emerge. The work will combine LiDAR-derived maps with on-the-ground excavation and measurement to build a more complete picture of the Amazon geoglyph landscape. The researchers anticipate that the field season will yield new geoglyph identifications and perhaps more clues about how these features were used, by whom, and when they were created. The combination of cutting-edge technology, bold fieldwork, and an open invitation to public participation positions the GOJIRA project as a notable example of how science and exploration can emerge from nontraditional settings and support networks.

The researchers acknowledge that much remains unknown, and they encourage careful, evidence-based inquiry as the project progresses. They emphasize that their work is not a dramatic declaration of a long-lost civilization, but a systematic effort to map and analyze evidence that could reshape how scholars understand Amazonian landscapes. In the coming months, they expect to refine hypotheses about the purpose of the geoglyphs, their ages, and their relationship to neighboring cultural traditions, all while maintaining a commitment to transparency and public involvement.

As LiDAR continues to reveal ever more in the jungle canopy, the Terra Incognita team hopes their approach will inspire other under-supported researchers to pursue ambitious questions. If successful, the Amazon geoglyph project could provide new chapters in the story of human ingenuity in one of the world’s most biodiverse and least-understood frontiers, and it could do so from the Ozarks, not only from the halls of elite universities. The expedition’s progress and findings will be documented and shared with supporters and the broader public as the work unfolds, reinforcing the idea that curiosity, collaboration, and accessible science can drive meaningful discoveries anywhere.