Harrison Buck and colleagues calculated that at its peak, the system could produce enough fish to feed about 15,000 people each year. This is based on the latest estimates of how many kilograms of fish people eat each year, combined with measurements of how many kilograms of fish people in Zambia harvest in similar traps. Of course, the Crooked Tree people probably had to preserve their fish by salting, drying, smoking, and other methods.
“Fishing was more than sufficient to support the year-round sedentary lifestyle in this region and the emergence of the complex societies characteristic of the pre-Columbian Maya,” says Harrison-Buck and her author. a colleague writes.
When we think of the Maya economy, we think of a network of canals and ditches and terraces. In just a sliver of modern-day Guatemala, lidar research shows that Maya farmers drained thousands of acres of wetlands to build raised corn fields criss-crossed by a grid of irrigation canals. It became clear. To feed the ancient city of Holmul, the Maya turned the swamp into a granary. But at least some of those pioneers may have had great success with fish rather than grain. But the common denominator is that there is absolutely no chill when it comes to redesigning entire landscapes to produce food.
This Google Earth image shows areas of ancient fishing.
Infrastructure built to last
The channels that once carried fish into nearby ponds are now barely visible from ground level. But when seen from above, it stands in stark contrast to the surrounding land, especially during the dry season. Because in the moist soil at the bottom of the channel, plants grow richly and green, even though everything around it is dry. Therefore, aerial photography became the perfect method for creating maps.
