South America is, in many ways, the least explored continent on Planet Earth. While our knowledge of ancient Egypt is comprehensive and our understanding of regions such as Mesoamerica or South East Asia barely lags behind, according to one estimate only 5% of South American ruins and the civilizations that built them have been discovered.
The heartlands for such ancient cultures is undoubtedly Peru. From the famous Inca in their cloud city of Cuzco all the way back to the Chico Norte, possibly the oldest city-building civilization in the world, Peru is a rich tapestry of interlocking and competing cultures, as it remains to this day.
We have already covered Peru elsewhere, but South America is much more the Machu Picchu and Chan Chan, or the Wari or the Moche. The other countries and other regions of this most southerly of continents have their fair share of mysterious treasures, hidden in from the high Andes to the lush jungles of the Amazon.
Here are seven of the most interesting.
1. The Muisca and their Sacred Pool
2. Brazilian Rainforest Earthworks
3. Tiawanaku
4. Jesuit Missions of Argentina
5. Moai
6. Cueva de los Manos, Argentina
7. The Lost City of the Tayrona
Top Image: Lake Guatavita, sacred lake of the Muisca and resting place of many unknown treasures (Burkhard Mücke / CC BY-SA 4.0)
By Joseph Green
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