Research Reveals Largest Ancient Dam Built by Maya Civilization

This is a rather impressive dam that was built by the Mayan people. The Dam was over 260 feet long, about 33 foot high, and held about 20 million gallons of water. Looking at structures such as this and what they accomplished, built so long ago, it's hard to imagine how anyone could think that early civilizations such as these aren't absolutely amazing.

Source

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.

That dam – constructed from cut stone, rubble and earth – stretched more than 260 feet in length, stood about 33 feet high and held about 20 million gallons of water in a man-made reservoir.

In fact, by the Classic Period (AD 250-800), the dam (called the Palace Dam) identified by the UC-led team was constructed to contain the waters that were now directed from the many sealed plaster surfaces in the central precinct. It was this dam on which the team focused its latest work, completed in 2010. This gravity dam presents the largest hydraulic architectural feature known in the Maya area. In terms of greater Mesoamerica, it is second in size only to the huge Purron Dam built in Mexico’s Tehuacan Valley sometime between AD 250-400.

www.uc.edu...

Detailed in the latest findings by the UC-led efforts are:

The largest ancient dam built by the ancient Maya of Central America
Discussion on how reservoir waters were likely released
Details on the construction of a cofferdam needed by the Maya to dredge one of the largest reservoirs at Tikal
The presence of ancient springs linked to the initial colonization of Tikal
Use of sand filtration to cleanse water entering reservoirs
A “switching station” that accommodated seasonal filling and release of water
Finding of the deepest, rock-cut canal segment in the Maya lowlands

Good post. I'm sure with time, we'll learn a lot more about the ancients. Many misconceptions and distortions in history will be rectified.

Map of the dam.



www.sci-news.com...

Cool find thanks for posting...

it's always nice to change mainstream geologist's and historians view of what they think they know.

only the Romans had control of water.. PFFT the mayans had control of water AND a sediment filter beat that.

Originally posted by -W1LL
Cool find thanks for posting...

it's always nice to change mainstream geologist's and historians view of what they think they know.

You did note that it was scientists who found it and published the find right? That is how science works, you constantly update.

......by a multi-university team led by the University of Cincinnati.....

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Thanks to Isyeye for posting that. You might find it interesting to look at the first ancient Egyptian dam too plus the ones in Yemen and elswhere

The other dams