Google Earth has found an immense treasure under some wetlands. The network of traps that launched a civilization: the Mayans

The number of Mayan finds in recent decades is surprising. It is surprising because we are talking about a civilization with more than 3,500 years of history, one that also had one of the most developed cultures of antiquity. There have been many discoveries that told us how incredibly practical they were in building their empire and, now, through extensive wetlands, archaeologists have found a key to its origin.

Ancestral innovation. At the dawn of the Mayan civilization, before the construction of the iconic temples, their predecessors were already altering the environment in the Yucatan Peninsula. Communities located in what is now Belize transformed extensive wetlands into a network of canals and ponds designed to capture freshwater fishone huge enough to feed thousands of people annually.

Said system, located in the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuarywas recently mapped by archaeologist Eleanor Harrison-Buck and her team, who used drones and data obtained from Google Earth to analyze up to 108 kilometers of canals covering 42 square kilometers. Radiocarbon dating suggests that this infrastructure, kilometer-long zigzag linear patterns, is at least 4,000 years old.

The ultimate cheat system. They count in their work researchers that, during the rainy season, swampy areas flood and fish spawn in the wetlands. Excavations in the area uncovered barbed spearheads, tools that were probably tied to sticks and used for fishing. This system allowed, as the waters receded in the dry season, fish were funneled into ponds where they were trappedthus facilitating its capture.

The system also took advantage of the natural behavior of fish, allowing residents to easily collect them at times of lower abundance. According to the study calculationsthe network could have produced enough fish to support about 15,000 people a yearrequiring conservation methods such as salting, drying or smoking. These channels not only reflect innovation, but also early adaptation to ensure food security.

Construction and use of canals. As we said at the beginning, the team explains that the channels They were built about 4,000 years ago by semi-nomadic communities in the coastal plain of Yucatán. They were used for at least 1,000 yearsincluding the Formative period, when the Maya began to establish permanent agricultural villages and develop a distinctive culture.

The scale of these early landscape modifications also suggests that societies of this time were already organized and had advanced abilities to transform their environment.

Impact on the Mayan emergence. While the Mayan economy is known for corn farming and draining wetlands to create raised fields, as they remember at work, this network demonstrates that fishing was equally essential for the development of sedentary settlements and the Mayan social complexity itself.

In other words, The trap system discovered complemented agricultural productionshowing how these communities modified their environment to maximize food resources.

Archaeological evidence and continuity over time. But there is much more. Apparently, archaeologists found remains of Preclassic Mayan ceramics in the sediments of the canals, indicating that the system continued to be used even during the growth of the great Mayan cities.

Although most canals have filled with sediment over time, studies suggest that the ponds still concentrate fish today during the dry season, according to reports from local residents.

Engineering and historical relevance. There is no doubt, the Crooked Tree network once again reflects the ability of the ancient Mayans to transform the landscape, in this case into lasting infrastructure. Built around 2000 BCat the end of the Archaic period and before the Formative period, this innovation marked, according to the authorsa turning point in the evolution of their society.

Although no evidence has been found that the Preclassic Maya provided continuous maintenance to the network, its design and initial functionality left a legacy that It is still visible from the air during the dry seasonwhen the densest vegetation reveals the location of the channels.

In short, a testimony to the ability of the ancient Mayans to adapt to their environment and guarantee food security through innovative strategies. The system, together with already known agricultural techniques, reaffirms the ingenuity of civilization to reconfigure vast landscapes for the benefit of its survival and cultural development, showing that fish, like corn, were essential for the rise of its society.

Image | Fernando FloresGoogle Earth

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