The Maya built and maintained reservoirs that were in use for more than 1,000 years, writes University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign anthropology professor Lisa Lucero in a perspective in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. These reservoirs provided potable water for thousands to tens of thousands of people in cities during the annual, five-month dry season and in periods of prolonged drought. 

Read this Illinois News Bureau piece about the insights Illinois Anthropology professor Lisa Lucero offers forward. 

Read the open-access Perspective in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.