Ancient Fishing Canals Were Discovered In Belize, Changing The Narrative That Mesoamerican Civilizations Were Built On Agriculture
Agriculture was long thought to be the biggest contributing factor toward the development of civilization in ancient Mesoamerica, but the discovery of a network of canals in modern-day Belize might just change that historical narrative.
The people who came before the Maya built canals in the wetlands of the region that potentially served as a significant stepping stone to their civilization.
Wetlands help regulate air quality and help prevent flooding and drought. They also provide a diverse range of resources to both humans and animals. Some of the earliest enhancements made to wetlands occurred between 6,000 and 8,000 years ago.
The man-made canals were meant to catch freshwater fish. There were barbed points at the sites that suggested they practiced spearfishing. The canals were used for around 1,000 years.
They were obscured by the natural landscape of Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary (CTWS), the largest inland wetland in Belize. Researchers used aerial imaging technology to identify the pre-Maya canals built roughly 4,000 years ago.
“Here and in several other locations in the Maya Lowlands, our team has identified through remote sensing (using drones and Google Earth imagery) a vast network of linear earthen channels or weirs,” wrote the researchers.
“These linear features closely resemble other pre-Columbian fish-trapping facilities recorded in similar tropical environments of the Bolivian Amazon as well as ethnographic examples found in Zambia, Africa.”
The canals predate the Maya, who emerged around 2000 B.C.E. and built their first cities about 1,250 years later. The fishing structures may have given rise to the Maya civilization, allowing it to flourish.
They were likely dug in response to long-term climate change that was recorded between 2200 and 1900 B.C.E. Then, they were used by pre-Maya people and their descendants. The ancient Maya continued to use them between 2000 B.C.E. and 200 C.E.
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The canals also illustrate how pre-Maya people altered the surrounding landscape to meet their requirements. Their descendants maintained this practice, as evidenced by their creation of roads, temples, and pyramids.
Additionally, the waterways provided them with a diverse diet that spurred the growth of civilization. Stable food sources helped them transition from a nomadic lifestyle to one with settlements.
Agricultural practices after 2000 B.C.E. have been credited with encouraging the development of civilizations in Mesoamerica, but the latest findings indicate that some groups of people depended on aquatic resources more.
“We argue that such early intensification of aquatic food production offered a high-value subsistence strategy that was instrumental in the emergence of Formative period sedentarism and the development of complexity among pre-Columbian civilizations like the Maya,” wrote the authors of the study.
The details of the study were published in the journal Science Advances.
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