Archaeologists have uncovered a 4,000-year-old network of earthen canals in Belize’s Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, revealing an ancient system of landscape modification long before the rise of the Maya civilization. The discovery, made using drones and Google Earth imagery, highlights the ingenuity of early inhabitants of Central America’s Yucatan Peninsula.
Published in Science Advances, the study details a pattern of zigzagging canals stretching several miles through wetlands. “The aerial imagery was crucial to identify this really distinctive pattern,” said Eleanor Harrison-Buck of the University of New Hampshire, a co-author of the research.
Excavations revealed that the canals, paired with fish-holding ponds, were used by semi-nomadic communities to channel and catch freshwater fish such as catfish. Barbed spearpoints, likely tied to sticks for fishing, were also discovered, according to Marieka Brouwer Burg of the University of Vermont, another co-author.
Constructed around 4,000 years ago, the canal systems were in use for at least 1,000 years, a period coinciding with the early formative era of Maya settlement. During this time, people transitioned from semi-nomadic lifestyles to permanent farming villages, laying the groundwork for Maya cultural development.
“It’s fascinating to see such large-scale modifications of the landscape so early. It shows people were already building and innovating,” commented Claire Ebert, an archaeologist at the University of Pittsburgh who was not involved in the study.
While much is known about the later Maya civilization, with its towering temples, pyramids, and advancements in writing, mathematics, and astronomy, this discovery offers a rare glimpse into the earlier societies that preceded them.
“This shows continuity,” said Jeremy Sabloff, an archaeologist from the University of Pennsylvania, emphasizing the connection between these early innovations and the later grandeur of Maya culture.
The fish-trapping canals not only supported a growing population but also helped diversify diets, providing a practical foundation for the societal and cultural achievements that followed. These ancient modifications to the Yucatan wetlands may have even played a role in enabling the construction of Maya pyramids that now rise above the rainforest.
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