Overview
- A peer-reviewed paper published Aug. 11, 2026 used high-resolution satellite mapping, measured the volume of 1,600 ridges and 63 housing platforms in a 500-hectare sample, and released the code so other researchers can replicate the methods.
- Labor and volume models in the study estimate a conservative workforce of about 800 people could construct a single canal‑ridge system in under two months, a pace the authors say is consistent with coordinated family-level cooperation.
- The La Mojana networks span roughly 500,000 hectares and were active from the first centuries BCE until about the 11th century CE, functioning to store and redistribute water to buffer floods and droughts and to support cultivation and fishing.
- The authors report there is no independent evidence for state-level institutions in the region and argue the scale of the works does not require top-down command, restoring agency to local pre-Hispanic communities.
- The team frames the findings as directly relevant to Colombia today, proposing locally organised, nature-based water management as an alternative to dyke projects that have repeatedly failed, though translating archaeological insight into modern policy will require design work, funding and community programs.