A 15-year-old just discovered a lost Maya city in the Mexican jungle

[G_j]

http://www.sciencealert.com/a-15-year-old-just-discovered-a-lost-maya-city-in-central-america

A 15-year-old just discovered a lost Maya city in the Mexican jungle

May 10 2016

William Gadoury, a 15-year-old school student from Quebec, Canada, has found something that’s been hidden from archaeologists for centuries - a lost city of the Maya civilisation, buried deep in the Yucatan jungle of southeastern Mexico.

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"I did not understand why the Maya built their cities away from rivers, on marginal lands and in the mountains," Gadoury told French-Canadian magazine, Journal de Montréal. "They had to have another reason, and as they worshiped the stars, the idea came to me to verify my hypothesis. I was really surprised and excited when I realised that the most brilliant stars of the constellations matched the largest Maya cities."

Gadoury had been studying 22 Maya constellations for years before releasing that he could line up the positions of 117 Maya cities on the ground with maps of stars and constellations above - something that no one had pieced together before.

With this in mind, he located a 23rd constellation, which included just three stars. According to his sky map, he could only link up two cities with the three stars, so suspected that a third city remained undetected in that spot.

..more...

[GummyBearz]

1. Indiana Jones lives!!

But why is he French Canadian? Uhg

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. "Uhg"? Why do you loathe French Canadians?

[GummyBearz]

13. I have a few friends that are French Canadian, the comment was a joke

[G_j]

14. Quebec Jones

has a certain ring to it..

[yellowcanine]

2. This kid is a genius.

To figure out that Mayan cities lined up with specific stars - and then to use that information to predict where an undiscovered city was located - all at the ripe old age of 15 - that is genius. I am in awe of this kid.

[farleftlib]

17. IKR

I even watch Ancient Aliens and I wouldn't have thought of this.

[a la izquierda]

20. This has been common knowledge for decades.

[malaise]

3. Wonderful

Rec

[Blues Heron]

4. I'd like to see the alleged "star map"

Sounds like a crock to me. I seriously doubt the placement of Mayan cities was intended to match the stars. that said I could be wrong.

[G_j]

5. sounds legit..

http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2016/05/07/un-ado-decouvre-une-cite-maya

William Gadoury, un adolescent de Saint-Jean-de-Matha dans Lanaudière, est devenu une petite vedette à la NASA, à l’Agence spatiale canadienne et à l’Agence spatiale japonaise, alors que sa découverte est sur le point d’être diffusée dans une revue scientifique.

http://yucatanexpatlife.com/teen-tracks-down-lost-mayan-city/

William Gadoury, 15, has received accolades by NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and the Japanese Space Agency, and his discovery is about to be disseminated in a scientific journal.

[hunter]

6. A powerful political regime claiming a heavenly mandate would do this.

Chaco Canyon in the U.S. Southwest is oriented to the skies, as are many Egyptian monuments.

Astrology is still practiced by some in our own culture, but with the additional absurdity that it's been disconnected from actual observations of the sky by its reliance on outdated and inaccurate calendars.

Ronald and Nancy Reagan consulted Astrologers.

White House Confirms Reagans Follow Astrology, Up to a Point
By STEVEN V. ROBERTS, Special to the New York Times
Published: May 4, 1988

WASHINGTON, May 3— President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, are both deeply interested in astrology, the White House spokesman, Marlin Fitzwater, said today, and two former White House officials said Mrs. Reagan's concerns had influenced the scheduling of important events.

A California astrologer said she had been consulted by the Reagans regarding key White House decisions, but Mr. Reagan said astrology had not influenced policy.

Followers of astrology believe the alignment of stars and planets influences human affairs. Such people consult charts, based on their birth dates, for clues concerning many decisions.

-- more --

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/04/us/white-house-confirms-reagans-follow-astrology-up-to-a-point.html

[TeamPooka]

8. Don't be angry that the Mayans were smarter then than you are now. :)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. Okay, smartass, YOU explain why 117 match up and the missing one was where predicted. . . nt

[Blues Heron]

15. I think it's Chariots of the Gods BS

Don't some of those locations predate the Mayans? Surely the Mayan empire grew organically, not in a pre planned star map way.

[MisterP]

19. plotting temple platforms according to asterisms in some celestial joke is the LEAST

punny thing Maya clergy would do

[a la izquierda]

21. They did just that, placing their cities according

To the stars.

Only experts have know about this for decades.

[TeamPooka]

7. He started working on the project when he was 12. Amazing kid. nt

[Meldread]

9. So, what were you doing around this kids age?

Amazing kid. I'd love to donate to help him and others go on the trip through the jungle to verify the finding.

[mountain grammy]

12. K & R

[Blues Heron]

16. Too good to be true - here's a reality check from an expert in the field

https://www.facebook.com/david.stuart.520?fref=ts

David Stuart
5 hrs · Austin, TX ·

This current news story of an ancient Maya city being discovered is false. I was trying to ignore it (and the media inquiries I've been getting) but now that it's up on the BBC's website I feel I ought to say something.

The whole thing is a mess -- a terrible example of junk science hitting the internet in free-fall. The ancient Maya didn't plot their ancient cities according to constellations. Seeing such patterns is a rorschach process, since sites are everywhere, and so are stars. The square feature that was found on Google Earth is indeed man-made, but it's an old fallow cornfield, or milpa.

[a la izquierda]

22. Well, they plotted their buildings in such a way.

But Stuart is brilliant and spot in.

[Delphinus]

18. That is just

too cool!!!

[FrodosPet]

23. Alas, too cool to be real

Teen Probably Didn’t Unearth an Ancient Mayan City Using Star Maps (Updated)

http://nymag.com/selectall/2016/05/excellent-teen-unearths-possible-ancient-mayan-city-using-star-maps.html?mid=facebook_nymag

By Madison Malone Kircher - May 10, 2016 2:29 p.m.

Sadly, the feel-good/feel-embarrassed-about-how-little-you’ve-accomplished story of a Canadian 15-year-old discovering a previously undiscovered Mayan city isn’t quite as impressive as first hoped.*

The tale, as it went viral (and as we originally wrote it), was simple: Canadian 15-year-old William Gadoury thought he’d found an abandoned Mayan city deep in the heart of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Using star maps, Gadoury discovered that 22 major Mayan cities correlated with the brightest stars in constellations. He was the first person, teen or otherwise, to use this method, the Telegraph reported, and using the location he determined from the third star, Gadoury connected with the Canadian Space Agency, who sent the teen satellite images showing visible geometric shapes consistent with a lost city. Gadoury (as well as Dr. Armand Larocque, a remote sensing specialist from the University of New Brunswick) believes it’s a central Mayan pyramid, with several other nearby structures.

Sadly, Larocque’s endorsement wasn’t shared by the academic community. Since this story was first published, several skeptics have voiced concerns with Gadoury’s potential discovery. “This current news story of an ancient Maya city being discovered is false,” David Stuart, an anthropologist from The Mesoamerica Center-University of Texas at Austin, wrote on Facebook.

The whole thing is a mess – a terrible example of junk science hitting the internet in free-fall. The ancient Maya didn’t plot their ancient cities according to constellations. Seeing such patterns is a rorschach process, since sites are everywhere, and so are stars. The square feature that was found on Google Earth is indeed man-made, but it’s an old fallow cornfield, or milpa.

~ snip ~