Google Earth captures lost Amazonian tribe settlements - that were once home to millions

Google Earth has captured some of the most beautiful scenes from across the globe for online users to explore.

Whilst many have used the images to confirm their beliefs in extra-terrestrial life, a new study has gone even further back to discover a number of ancient towns.

Located in Brazil, lost Amazonian settlements dating back as far as 1500AD have been revealed.

The study published in journal Nature by University of Exeter archaeology student Jonas De Souza found the structures by using Google Earth.

It opens up a whole new discovery regarding the era and the people who lived in the area.

The imprints on the ground are not easily visible but can be spotted by using satellite technology.

Using laser pulses, this means it can search deeper into the vegetation and discover the markings.

The satellite imagery has revealed a number of towns and agriculture settlements, which could have been home to over 50 million people.

Up to one million were estimated to have lived along the Tapajos river.

Yet the ancient tribes were believed to have been wiped out when European settlers came to the land, bringing diseases and killings.

De Souza explained to New Scientist: “Most of the Amazon is still unexplored archaeologically.

“The more we survey, the more we realise that different parts of the basin were more settled than we thought.”

“We have changed our idea about the Amazon.”

It may not be the only discovery to happen as science continues to harness new technology when discovering ancient settlements.

Whilst they remain secluded and uncontacted by the modern world, a number of pictures have emerged of Amazonian tribes across the years.

One Amazon rainforest tribe was captured firing arrows at a helicopter in 2016, who are believed to still live the way their ancestors did 20,000 years ago.

Another tribe group found in Brazil were massacred after they were discovered by gold miners in the area.

Despite being protected by the National India Foundation, Funai, they reportedly bragged about the killings afterwards in a local bar in Columbia.

Leila Silvia Burger Sotto-Maior, coordinator at Funai, told New York Times: “It was crude bar talk.

“They even bragged about cutting up the bodies and throwing them in the river.”

The miners, according to Sotto-Maior, claimed in the bar that it was “kill them or be killed."