The number of Mayan discoveries in recent decades has been surprising. The Maya, known for their advanced culture and iconic temples, have left behind more than 3,500 years of history. Many discoveries have shown how incredibly clever they were in building their empire. Now, through extensive wetlands, archaeologists have found a key to its origins.
Ancient innovation. At the dawn of the Maya civilization, before they built their iconic temples, its predecessors were already transforming the environment on the Yucatan Peninsula. Communities in what is now Belize transformed vast wetlands into a network of canals and ponds designed to catch freshwater fish. This network was large enough to feed thousands of people annually.
Recently, using drones and Google Earth data, archaeologist Eleanor Harrison-Buck and her team mapped a network of canals and ponds spanning 16 square miles in the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary (CTWS). Radiocarbon dating shows the infrastructure is at least 4,000 years old, predating the Maya’s urban settlements.
A revolutionary fishing system. The wetlands flood during the rainy season, luring fish to spawn. Early residents built canals in zigzag patterns to direct fish into ponds, where they were trapped as waters receded during the dry season. Excavations unearthed barbed spearheads, likely used for fishing.
The system also took advantage of fish’s natural behavior, allowing residents to easily collect them during periods of low abundance. Researchers estimate this network could have yielded enough fish to feed 15,000 people annually. To sustain their food supply, inhabitants probably preserved the fish by salting, drying, or smoking. This system highlights early food security strategies and showcases the Maya’s ability to manipulate their environment for maximum benefit.
Canal construction and use. Semi-nomadic communities built these canals around 2000 B.C. They used them for over 1,000 years, including the Formative Period when the Maya began establishing permanent villages and developing their distinct culture.
The scale of this infrastructure points to a high level of social organization and technical skills. While later Maya innovations focused on maize farming and wetland draining, this fish-trapping system underscores the importance of diversified food production.
Impact on Maya emergence. While the Maya economy is known for maize farming and draining wetlands to create raised fields, this network shows that fishing was equally fundamental to the development of sedentary settlements and Maya social complexity.
In other words, the discovered trapping system complemented agricultural production, showing how these communities modified their environment to maximize food resources.
Archaeological evidence and continuity through time. Preclassic Maya pottery found in the canals suggests the system remained functional even as major cities began to emerge.
Although most of the canals have filled with sediment over time, the ponds still have a concentration of fish during the dry season, according to reports from locals.
Engineering a civilization. The CTWS network demonstrates the Maya’s extraordinary ability to reshape landscapes. Built around 2000 B.C., during the transition from the Archaic to the Formative Period, this innovation played a crucial role in developing Maya society.
While no evidence suggests Mayans actively maintained these canals in later centuries, their enduring design laid a foundation for the following agricultural and engineering advancements.
This discovery underscores how fish, like maize, was vital to the rise of the Maya civilization. By reconfiguring their environment through innovative strategies, the Maya secured food supplies and built the foundations of one of history’s most remarkable cultures.
Image | BREA project | Jose Figueroa (Unsplash)
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