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How did the ancient Maya deal with drought ?

Posted on Wednesday, 18 July, 2012 | Comment icon

10 comments

Image credit: sxc.hu

Despite regular dry seasons the Maya found an ingenious way to store enough water to sustain them.

Researchers believe that the Mayan civilization at Tikal in Guatemala survived for over a thousand years despite extensive droughts thanks to a sophisticated system of paved reservoirs that stored excess water during the wet season to sustain the population when everything else had dried up.

"These people were able to use their land and water resources in a sustainable manner for as long as 1,500 years without significant interruption," said anthropologist Vernon Scarborough.

"For four months out of every year in the ancient Mayan city of Tikal, the skies dried up and no rain fell."

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Source: Live Science

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Recent comments on this story

#1 Posted by Junior Chubb on 18 July, 2012, 10:33

Not very well from what I recall... Maybe I was mislead by national curriculum history (or my rapidly failing memory), again!! Great article, thanks for posting.

#2 Posted by pallidin on 18 July, 2012, 11:21

Nice find.

#3 Posted by Super-Fly on 18 July, 2012, 14:17

Tidy, Thanks,

#4 Posted by jgorman628 on 18 July, 2012, 14:18

I am always impressed by the ways the ancients survived harsh times without modern technology. It is commonsense to store water for droughts but how to do it is a whole different problem. One which the Mayans solved using basic tools and technology. Nice find!

#5 Posted by mitosblog on 18 July, 2012, 19:15

Back in ancient Mexico archaeologists have discovered cenotes and underwater caves of the Mayans http://dailyblendcoffee.blogspot.com/2011/12/cenotes-and-underwater-caves-of-yucatan.html

#6 Posted by csspwns on 19 July, 2012, 1:09

they could also have tried drinking from toilets or aquaducts

#7 Posted by puckmomma on 19 July, 2012, 6:42

I thought thats why the Mayan "sacrified" it's own peoples, to ask the rain gods for water. I guess their aquaducts weren't enough to sustain them. They had to resort to "human sacrifices". And at the looks of it, alot of them.

#8 Posted by samspade on 19 July, 2012, 13:38

if they would of listen to the wine gods and stocked up the wine for the dry season, the population would of soar even more with all the good times

#9 Posted by jules99 on 20 July, 2012, 22:16

"Recent excavations, sediment coring and mapping by a multi-university team led by the University of Cincinnati at the pre-Columbian city of Tikal, a paramount urban center of the ancient Maya, have identified new landscaping and engineering feats, including the largest ancient dam built by the Maya of Central America." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120716191443.htm

#10 Posted by The Mule on 21 July, 2012, 18:47

I was just going to post about the dam they found http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/07/2012/largest-ancient-dam-built-by-maya-in-central-america

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