4,000-Year-Old Fishing Canals Unearthed in Belize Shed Light on Pre-Maya Innovations

November 23, 2024
by Larry Waight +

4,000-year-old canals used for fishing by Maya predecessors discovered in Belize

Archaeologists in Belize have uncovered a 4,000-year-old network of canals, providing new insight into how the predecessors of the Maya civilization shaped the landscape to sustain themselves long before the construction of iconic temples and pyramids.

Using drones and Google Earth imagery, researchers identified a series of zigzagging linear canals spanning miles through the wetlands of the Yucatán peninsula, now within the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize. These canals, alongside holding ponds, were used to channel and catch freshwater fish such as catfish, according to a study published Friday in the journal Science Advances.

“The aerial imagery was crucial to identify this really distinctive pattern of zigzag linear canals,” said Eleanor Harrison-Buck of the University of New Hampshire, one of the study’s co-authors.

Excavations revealed tools such as barbed spearpoints nearby, believed to have been tied to sticks for spearing fish, said co-author Marieka Brouwer Burg from the University of Vermont. The findings suggest that these semi-nomadic people built the canals as early as 4,000 years ago, and they remained in use for at least 1,000 years, including during the formative period when the Maya began settling in permanent farming villages.

The research highlights large-scale landscape modifications long before the Maya’s rise to prominence. “It’s really interesting to see such large-scale modifications of the landscape so early – it shows people were already building things,” said Claire Ebert, an archaeologist at the University of Pittsburgh, who was not involved in the study.

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This network represents a crucial link between early human activity and the later Maya civilization, which built temples, roads, and pyramids while advancing writing, mathematics, and astronomy. The canals not only supported dietary diversity and population growth but also laid the foundation for the cultural heights achieved by the Maya.

“This shows continuity,” said Jeremy Sabloff, an archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania, who also was not involved in the study. The canals reveal how early innovations in subsistence practices helped support the development of one of the most sophisticated ancient civilizations in the Americas.

The discovery offers a new lens into the evolution of Maya culture and its deep roots in the resourcefulness of earlier inhabitants of the Yucatán.