The Zenú channels in Colombia: a disappeared in the territory and a stranger in the pocket

Abstract

The concept of the "abductive hypothesis" is applied in this work on the ancient Zenú channels in the Colombian Momposina Depression. The "abductive hypothesis" was developed after the conception of the semiologist Pearce, who stated that only" abductive thinking" leads to the creation of something genuinely new. The "abductive process" starts from a "surprising fact", and goes on, as far as setting a hypothesis, continuing next through the semiological interpretation of signs, as icons, riddles, clues, suspicions, conjectures, and ending with the statement of an "abductive hypothesis." We start from the "surprising fact" that reveals that the Zenú community during pre-Hispanic times with its great power of hydraulic management, flourished in a complex area of Colombia but then disappeared, leaving centennial footprints in the territory. This "surprising fact" is reflected in the icon represented by the monumental Zenú Channels, a great work of hydraulic engineering which abandonment meant the loss of intervention of the waters of the Momposina Depression, causing floods and droughts issues that are increasing by the climate change in our times. Along the way, we found some enigmas such as the man-habitat relationship; indications: a favorable zone for the settlement of great cultures; suspicions: high knowledge and adaptation to the territory restrictions, the area as a likely great spiritual temple, the Zenú channels as a current management alternative; conjectures: high hydraulic knowledge of the Zenúes, more manageable area with channels than without them, engineering strategy to control the current rate of floods and droughts; and therefore we arrive at the approach of an "abductive hypothesis": how the understanding of the ancient system of channels and dikes of the Zenúes, their recovery, and improvement, would mean a strategy before the climate change adaptation by allowing the control of floods and droughts?