783 million of the 7 billion people on the planet
do not have access to clean water
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The archaeological remains of ancientwater storage and irrigation technologies are
often prominent features on the landscape. Dams, canals, and irrigation ditches
required great amounts of labor to build and maintain and are often associated
with centralized, state-level management. But these more visible features existed
alongside smaller water management technologies that were oftenmanaged at the
community or household level. In the Maya area in southern Mesoamerica, evidence
of these ancient technologies is found in the form of small dams, reservoirs
and other water storage features, wells, irrigation canals, and agricultural terraces.
Areview of the literature reveals that these technologies are ubiquitous in theMaya
area during the period from the Middle Preclassic to the Terminal Classic (400 B.C.
to A.D. 1000) when the ancient Maya civilization reached its peak of population
and political complexity. Small-scale water management technologies inform us
both how the ancient Maya utilized andmanaged their resources, and also provide
insight into political and social organization.