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We think it's always interesting when previously-unknown cities are found in Central and South America. Geographically, this area is probably outside of Book of Mormon locations, but new technologies such as LiDAR are showing us just how much history is hidden under the jungles and remote areas in this hemisphere. It's interesting to not that as far as we know, there is nothing like this in North America. Of course, there's really no need to use LiDAR to search for them as the land has been cleared here and we don't really have rainforests anyway. But unknown ancient cities, structures, roads, and even agricultural sites where people dwelt in large numbers a long time ago.
In some cases, as with this site in Ecuador, mounds and roads were known, but the true extent of how it all fit together could not be known unless centuries of Amazonian growth could be removed, in this case, digitally. This ancient Ecuadorian city was inhabited by a people known today as the Upano as early as 500 B.C. In addition to buildings, farms, and drainage canals, they had roads, some of which stretched for 12 miles. As archaeologist Stéphen Rostain noted, "There's always been an incredible diversity of people and settlements in the Amazon..."
Our opinion is that modern Ecuador is far outside any map that would match Book of Mormon geography. However, similar discoveries are being made all over Mesoamerica. There is so much ancient history in these lands that we have yet to find.
