Ancient Maya solutions to water and food insecurity: Low technology lessons for contemporary development

April 23rd, 2012

Dr. E. Ferrand (Southern Connecticut State University) & Prof. V. Scarborough (University of Cincinnati), United States

At the turn of the 21st century, water and food security issues remain among the most pressing concerns globally, not dissimilar to what the ancient Maya experienced a millennium agoif only at a regional scale8. A number of today’s prima facie technologically advanced solutions, such as genetically modified seeds, large-scale water developments like the GAP Project in Turkey or the Three Dams Project in China, and the complex practices of the “Green Revolution”, present a series of environmental and societal concerns9,10,11,12. Scientists and governments are now paying close attention to ancient and traditional low technology agricultural and environmentally sound land-use practices13.

Significantly, the livelihood of two-thirds of humanity still depends on traditional agricultural techniques and their local agricultural output14. In the least developed and developing nations of the subtropics, we observe a dependence on rainfall for water security which also defined the water storage practices of the ancient Maya15. It is our hypothesis that the application of ancient Maya water management systems may present sustainable low technology solutions to increase water and food security among present-day populations living in the same ancient landscape as well as in those nations in comparable geographic areas. One area of interest and great promise in applying ancient Maya water management best-practices involves the use of natural and human-made ponds, known as aguadas16.

Across a wide swath of the interior Maya lowlands, the ancient Maya exploited sinkholes and natural depressions. Where nature did not provide, the Maya utilized quarried depressions for water retention. The karst nature of the landmass and a highly seasonal distribution of rainfall made the capture and storage of rainwater a necessity. Collectively, thousands of aguadas are found wherever the ancient Maya resided in the seasonally parched interior parts of the peninsula17. Archaeological evidence suggests that the ancient civilization spent a considerable amount of effort modifying and maintaining their aguadas16.

Ancient Maya modified and constructed aguadas utilizing different techniques. Some of these techniques involved lining the aguadas with impermeable clay, stone or plaster lining, building stone-lined wells called buk’te to preserve water (in the deepest part of the aguadas), and constructing silting tanks at their entrances (to filter water)16,18,19. We also know that endemic plant species of Nymphaea ampla‘s (water lilly) pollen were commonly found in the ancient sediments of aguadas from paleoenvironmental investigations17. Nymphaea ampla is known to grow in clean and still wateras an aguada plant it was likely useful in preventing excess evaporation and reducing organic waste15,20,21.

Further evidence from aguada investigations demonstrate that the ancient Maya increased aguada capacities by building berms and dredging. Over the years, investigations of aguadas have revealed that aguada volumes usually range between 2,500 and 10,000 m3 17. Weiss-Krejci and Sabbas (2002) demonstrate that a small depression with 57m3 capacity could have supported forty-seven people with 4.8 liters daily water per capita using precipitation and evaporation data from Belize 22. If we consider that most aguadas were much bigger in volume, we can begin to imagine the immense water storage capacity of these features for modern populations of the interior Maya Lowlands facing water scarcity.

Lastly, aguadas may prove essential in increasing the food security of the interior Maya Lowlands. Corroborating aguadas’ potential for agriculture is the ancient pollen recovered repeatedly within aguada sediments, including cultigens that broadcast pollen over relatively short distances (e.g. manioc, cotton, and maize) 16,23,24,25. Ancient Maya were likely using aguada water for pot irrigating proximate fields or agricultural terraces. Furthermore, modern experiments are showing the potential of aguadas for aquaculture in the Yucatan Peninsula 26,27. Arredondo et al. (1982) described the placement of 18 g of tilapia fry in a seasonal shallow water aguada in central Mexico (0.8 fish/m2) with a resultant 450 kg/ha tilapia yield requiring no additional feeding26. The placement of native fish species is recommended for sustainable development purposes based on the unfavorable results of studies analysing the introduction of non-indigenous species to aguadas 28.

In conclusion, easy to adopt, low-end technologies, derived from tried and true solutions of ancient civilizations may prove invaluable beginning points for sustainable development projects in developing nations today. Based on the paleoenvironmental, archaeological, and aquacultural investigations of aguadas, scholars now know rainwater water collection in aguadas can increase the water and food security of present-day regions formerly occupied by the ancient Maya. Looking further afield, the ancient Maya example provides lessons for comparable regions of the globe.

References:

1. Hodell, D.A., M., Brenner, et al. (2001). “Solar Forcing of Drought Frequency in the Maya Lowlands.” Science, 292 (5520): 1367-1370.

2. Stahle, D.W., J. Villanueva Diaz, et al. (2011). “Major Mesoamerican droughts of the past millennium.” Geophysical Research Letters, 38: 1-4.

3. Dunning, N.P., T.P. Beach, et al. (2012). “Kax and kol: Collapse and resilience in lowland Maya civilization.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, (pre-publication) 10.1073/pnas.1114838109, available Online: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/02/23/1114838109.full.pdf+html

4. Webster, D. (2002). The Fall of the Ancient Maya, Thames and Hudson: New York.

5. Demarest, A., P.M. Rice, et al. (2004). The Terminal Classic in the Maya Lowlands: Collapse, Transition and Transformation, University Press of Colorado.

6. Rice, D. S. and P. M. Rice (1990). “Population Size and Population Change in the Central Peten Lake Region, Guatemala.” in Precolumbian population history in the Maya Lowlands, edited by T. P. Culbert and D. S. Rice, pp. 123-148, University of New Mexico Press: Albuquerque.

7. Scarborough, V.L. and W.R. Burnside (2010). “Complexity and Sustainability: Perspectives from the Ancient Maya and the Modern Balinese.” American Antiquity 75: 327-363.

8. United Nations (2000), “United Nations Millennium Report”, available online: http://www.un.org/millennium/sg/report/ch4.htm

9. Rosenberg, D.M, P. McClully et al. (2000). “Global-Scale Environmental Effects of Hydrological Alterations: Introduction.” Bioscience 50 (9): 746-751.

10. Conner, A.J., T.R.Glare et al. (2003). “The Release of Genetically Modified Crops into the Environment.” The Plant Journal 33: 1946-1959.

11. OECD (2008). Environmental Performance of Agriculture in OECD Countries since 1990. OECD Publishing: London.

12. Rahman, S. (2010). “Six decades of agricultural land use change in Bangladesh: Effects on crop diversity, productivity, food availability and the environment, 1948-2006.” Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 31 (2): 254-269.

13. Laureano, P. (2008). “Traditional Knowledge Role for Security and Mitigation of Water Conflicts.” Options Mediterraneennes Anº 83: Water Culture and Water Conflict in the Mediterranean Area.

14. Alexandratos, N. (1999). “World food and agriculture: Outlook for the medium and longer term.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 96 (11): 5908-5914.

15. Scarborough, V.L. and L.J. Lucero (2010). “The non-hierarchical development of complexity in the semitropics: water and cooperation.” Water History 2: 185-205.

16. Akpinar Ferrand, E., N.P. Dunning, D.L. Lentz and J.G. Jones. (forthcoming) “Use of Aguadas as Water Management Sources in Two Southern Maya Lowland Sites.” Journal of Ancient Mesoamerica. In press.

17. Akpinar Ferrand, E. (2011) “Aguadas: A Significant Aspect of the Southern Maya Lowlands Water Management Systems”, Ph.D. Dissertation: University of Cincinnati, available online: http://etd.ohiolink.edu/send-pdf.cgi/Akpinar%20Ezgi.pdf?ucin1307320694

18. Huchim Herrera, J. (1991). “Introducción al Estudio del Sistema de Aguadas de Uxmal, Yucatán.” Tesis Profesional que para optar al titulo de Licenciado en Ciencis Antropológicas en la Especialdad de Arqueología. Facultas de Ciencias Antropologicas, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Merida.

19. Scarborough, V. (1994) “The Pre-Hispanic Maya Reservoir System at Kinal, Petén, Guatemala.” Ancient Mesoamerica 5: 97-106.

20. Matheny, R.T. (1978) “Northern Maya Lowland Water Control-Systems.” in Pre-Hispanic Maya Agriculture, edited by P. Harrison & B. Turner II, pp.163-185. University of Mexico Press: Albuquerque.

21. Davis-Salazar, K. L. (2003). “Late Classic Maya Water Management and Community Organization at Copan, Honduras.” Latin American Antiquity 14 (3): 275-299.

22. Weiss-Krejci, E. and T. Sabbas (2002) “The Potential Role of Small Depressions as Water Storage Features in the Central Maya Lowlands.” Latin American Antiquity 13: 343-357.

23. Webster, D., D. Rue et al. (2005). “Early Zea Cultivation in Honduras: Implications for the Iltis Hypothesis.” Economic Botany 59 (2):101-111.

24. Wahl, D., T. Schreiner, et al. (2007). “A Paleoecological Record from a Late Classic Maya Reservoir in the North Peten.” Latin American Antiquity 18 (2): 212-222.

25. Dunning, N. P., R. Griffin, et al. (2009). “Investigaciones de Geoarquelologia y Paleoambiente en la Zona Mayor de Tikal” in Proyecto de Silvacultura y Manejo de Aguas de los Antiguos Mayas de Tikal: Temporada de 2009, edited by D. L, Lentz, L. Grazioso Sierra, et al., pp. 50-55. Dirección Patrimonio Cultural y Natural de Guatemala.

26. Arredondo-Figuero, J.L., J.L. García et al. (1982). “La conducta físico-química y el rendimiento pesquero de un estanque temporal tropical utilizado para la piscicultura extensiva en el estado de Morelos.” Rev. Latinoam. de Acuac. 12: 6-13.

27. Flores-Nava, A. (1994). “Some limnological data from five water bodies of Yucatan as a basis for agriculture development.” Anales del Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia 1-2 (21),

available online: http://biblioweb.tic.unam.mx/cienciasdelmar/instituto/1994-1-2/articulo440.html

28. Zambrano, L. M.R. Perrow, et al. (1999). “Impact of introduced carp (Cyprinus carpio) in subtropical shallow ponds in Central Mexico.” Journal of Aquatic Ecosystem Stress and Recovery 6: 281-288.

Dr. Ezgi Akpinar Ferrand is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography at Southern Connecticut State University. Akpinar Ferrand conducts research on paleoenvironments, geoarchaeology, sustainable development, and water and food security in Belize, Guatemala and Mexico. She has also worked in Turkey. Professor Vernon L. Scarborough is a Distinguished Research Professor and Charles P. Taft Professor in the Department of Anthropology at University of Cincinnati. Scarborough’s research and fieldwork on hydrology and water management systems has been conducted primarily among pre-Columbian Maya civilization sites in the Maya lowlands of Guatemala and Belize. Scarborough also worked on water management systems at site locations in Sudan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Greece and the American Southwest, among others. This article is partly based on an original piece of research awaiting publication in the Journal of Ancient Mesoamerica titled ‘Use of Aguadas as Water Management Sources in Two Southern Maya Lowland Sites.’ Dr. Akpinar Ferrand can be contacted at: akpinarfere1@southernct.edu.

The views expressed in this article belong to the individual authors and do not represent the views of the Global Water Forum, the UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance, UNESCO, the Australian National University, or any of the institutions to which the authors are associated. Please see the Global Water Forum terms and conditions here.