Archaeologists have discovered a massive network of ancient fisheries in Belize constructed by hunter-gatherers some 4000 years ago.

The system of earthen channels exceeds 640 kilometres in length and dates to the Archaic Period, which preceded the emergence of Maya civilisation centuries later. It is the oldest large-scale fish-trapping facility ever recorded in Central America.

“We were all expecting it to date to a period of sedentary Maya civilisation,” says Eleanor Harrison-Buck…