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4,000-Year-Old Discovery Reveals How Mayans Used Complex Fish Trapping Networks, Hints Their Rise as a Civilization

The whole arrangement spans 16 square miles and is the oldest known fishing system ever unearthed by archaeologists in Central America.
PUBLISHED DEC 31, 2024
Network of Trenches in a Clearing in the Forest Ieper, Vlaams Gewest, België (Representative Cover Image Source: Pexels | Photo by Jordi De semdt)
Network of Trenches in a Clearing in the Forest Ieper, Vlaams Gewest, België (Representative Cover Image Source: Pexels | Photo by Jordi De semdt)

Researchers have uncovered a wide network of ancient fish-trapping facilities in Belize which predates any form of civilization. As per analysis, this network was laid down by Mayan ancestors and was capable of feeding around 15,000 people a year, stated Live Science. The arrangement had multiple canals and ponds that directed fish into places where they could be easily trapped by humans. Findings related to the structure have been published in the journal Science Advances.

Woman Working with Fish (Representative Image Source: Pexels/Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh)
Woman Working with Fish (Representative Image Source: Pexels | Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh)

According to experts, the structure was created 4,000 years ago by hunter-gatherers, according to Smithsonian Magazine. The whole arrangement spans 16 square miles and also has the honor of being the oldest known fishing system ever unearthed by archaeologists in Central America. The finding has delighted researchers, as it gives them a glimpse into the expertise of prehistoric people. "It’s really interesting to see such large-scale modifications of the landscape so early—it shows people were already building things," Claire Ebert, an archaeologist at the University of Pittsburgh, who was not involved in the research stated.

The whole structure is nestled in the periphery of Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary. Eight years ago, researchers used technology like drones and Google Earth imagery to explore the system. They ended up identifying 167 trenches and 60 ponds. In 2019, the area was struck by a drought which brought forth the opportunity to look into the waterlogged canals. Researchers collected samples from the structure and applied radiocarbon dating. Examination unveiled that the network had been created somewhere between 2200 and 1900 B.C.E. This is much before the rise of Mayan civilization. 

 Seasonal floodplain landscapes with earthen fish weirs that resemble those in the CTWS. (Image Source: Science Advances/Photo by Google Earth)
Seasonal floodplain landscapes with earthen fish weirs that resemble those in the CTWS. (Image Source: Science Advances | Photo by Google Earth)

This revelation astounded the researchers, as the previous assumption was that the network was built by Mayans. Experts could not associate the meticulousness of the arrangement with the abilities of hunter-gatherers. "It never occurred to us that hunter-gatherers around 4,000 years ago might have engaged in this sort of collective, huge construction effort on this scale because nothing like it had ever been found or recorded in Central America before," says study co-author Eleanor Harrison-Buck, an anthropologist at the University of New Hampshire.

The structure was seemingly built at a time when the area was suffering from drought. Systems like these would have aided hunter-gatherers in easily preying on fishes that had begun swimming in the trenches due to the submerging of wetlands. This practice along with agriculture possibly became the basis of civilization, as per experts.

Jabiru storks at the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary (Representative Image Source: Wikimedia Commons | Photo by Fernando Flores)
Jabiru storks at the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary (Representative Image Source: Wikimedia Commons | Photo by Fernando Flores)

"For Mesoamerica in general, we tend to regard agricultural production as the engine of civilization, but this study tells us that it wasn’t just agriculture—it was also potential mass harvesting of aquatic species," explained Harrison-Buck.

Researchers state that descendants of hunter-gatherers possibly made a ritual out of the network. They could have come year after year under social context to collect fish from the area. Ultimately the abundant supply of food gave them the incentive for settling around the network.

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