4,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers in Belize constructed massive fish traps

Archaeologists have discovered an extensive ancient fishing network established by hunter-gatherers in Belize some 4,000 years ago.

This clay pipe system is more than 640 kilometers long and dates back to the Archaic period, predating the emergence of the Maya civilization several centuries later. This is the oldest large-scale fish capture facility recorded in Central America.

“We all expected it to go back to the time of the sedentary Mayan civilization,” he says. Eleanor Harrison Buck…