April
10
/ 2015
A new study suggests the rulers of the Maya city of Nakum used water as a social control method. They represented themselves as rainmakers, researchers say, showing themselves on monuments with water symbols, conducting water-related rituals and constructing waterworks. Engineers in Nakum and other ancient Maya cities used construction projects to direct rainwater from city buildings, structures and plazas to nearby reservoirs or ponds for use by residents. Water is indispensible to everyone, but to Maya areas plagued by drought for long periods, water may have been a source of social control. Some researchers have even blamed the collapse of Maya society on drought and climate change, though recent research says other factors too were at work in some failed
