The Basement: Luke Caverns | LiDAR Is Revealing Ancient Cities the Amazon Was Hiding

The Why Files: Operation Podcast

The Why Files

Society & Culture, Documentary, Science Fiction, Science, Life Sciences, Fiction

4.8 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2026

⏱️ 279 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Go to https://nicnac.com/whyfiles and use code WHYFILES for 20% off, or use the store locator to find Nic Nacs near you. Get your free, 30-second personalized assessment TODAY at https://PDSDebt.com/BASEMENT The Basement: Luke Caverns | LIDAR Is Revealing Ancient Cities the Amazon Was Hiding Luke Caverns is an anthropologist and explorer who's mapped over 80 ancient archaeological sites using LIDAR — sites that don't appear on any map. His grandfather found and lost seven gold mines in New Mexico. Luke found them again. Now he's planning the largest LIDAR scan ever done in the Amazon. We also go deep into Alexander the Great's missing body, the Were Jaguar cults of the Olmecs, and the Minoan civilization that may have been Atlantis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:21.8	dot UK slash podcast to learn more. Right, home from work, walk the dog, kids are back,
0:28.4	up the stairs for something. Back down, no idea what I went up for. Mom, what's for dinner?
0:40.3	Chop, sizzle, done. Hello Fresh can't slow life down, but it makes bringing everyone together around the table a whole lot easier.
0:47.3	So it's phones down, forks up.
0:49.3	Hello Fresh. Bring back dinner time.
0:52.3	Today I'm talking with Luke Caverns, an anthropologist and explorer who's flagged over
0:58.6	100 archaeological sites that aren't on any map.
1:01.7	He's planning the largest Lidar scan of the Amazon ever attempted.
1:05.4	What is he trying to see Jeff Bezos naked?
1:08.7	Not that Amazon, the Amazon jungle?
1:11.3	That makes more sense.
1:12.8	Lidar fires laser pulses from aircraft through the jungle canopy and maps what's buried underneath.
1:18.5	And over the last few years, it's been revealing megacities and ancient highways, a civilization
1:23.2	buried under the Amazon that nobody knew is there.
	...

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