The network directed the annual flood waters into a source pool where they could trap thousands of fish, able to feed a growing population, as the Mayans, it has been estimated, exceeded eight million people. This gave archaeologists a rare first link that connected a predecessor to the grand empire.

Archaeologists working in Central America have discovered a series of fishing-catching canals made by pre-Columbian Mayan predecessors thousands of years ago.

Using drones and Google Earth imagery, archaeologists have discovered a 4,000-year-old network of earthen canals in what’s now Belize