Archaeologists discover 4,000-year-old canals used to fish by predecessors of ancient Maya

By CHRISTINA LARSON
Updated 2:38 PM CST, November 22, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — Long before the ancient Maya built temples, their predecessors were already altering the landscape of Central America’s Yucatan peninsula.

Using drones and Google Earth imagery, archaeologists have discovered a 4,000-year-old network of earthen canals in what’s now Belize. The findings were published Friday in Science Advances.

“The aerial imagery was crucial to identify this really distinctive pattern of zigzag linear canals” running for several miles through wetlands, said study co-author Eleanor Harrison-Buck of the University of New Hampshire.

The team then conducted digs in Belize’s Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary. The ancient fish canals, paired with holding ponds, were used to channel and catch freshwater species such as catfish.

“Barbed spearpoints” found nearby may have been tied to sticks and used to spear fish, said study co-author Marieka Brouwer Burg of the University of Vermont.

The canal networks were built as early as 4,000 years ago by semi-nomadic people in the Yucatan coastal plain. According to the study, the canals were used for around 1,000 years or longer, including during the “formative” period when the Maya began to settle in permanent farming villages and a distinctive culture started to emerge.

More:
https://apnews.com/article/maya-fish-canal-civilization-pyramids-ebec21901049b634ab910d8190cf89ef












Some of the ancient structures in the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary


Excellent information in this resource:

Ancestral Maya domesticated waterscapes, ecological aquaculture, and integrated subsistence
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 March 2023

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ancient-mesoamerica/article/ancestral-maya-domesticated-waterscapes-ecological-aquaculture-and-integrated-subsistence/9C24BC7A4785C76D26C0E70CE6ABDA82