全 138 件のコメント

[–]SunTzuIsMyFavourite 248ポイント249ポイント  (12子コメント)

Amazing. You have to imagine a generation of archaeologists are rather annoyed about that

[–]gatsome 106ポイント107ポイント  (3子コメント)

I can't decide which reason would irk them more, that it was a 15 year old amateur or the fact he essentially did it from his bedroom.

[–]Hegiman [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Not just that but the thing he did was so simple. He correlate known data and found something the "experts" hadn't. There may be more cities to find in this fashion.

[–]Chillin247 [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Some maybe, but when it comes to the history of the mayans or really any other major population in heavily tropical areas, the consensus is that we have only scratched the surfaced when it comes to what is overall still buried. The largest obstacle toward discovering more is how remote some sites are in the deep jungle, and how daunting financially the practical excavation of such sites will be. Basically, there are a lot of suspected pyramid structures buried beneath centuries of dirt and trees, and getting to them is possible, but extremely expensive. Logically speaking, it makes a lot of sense that there would be more, and likely many more sites with well built large structures in the Mayan territories because it's a very large area and the technology and population was there to create more. I think it's pretty cool to see a young kid use modern technology to pin point a potentially major site, but I would be willing to bet it will be a looooong time before anyone has the funds to actually dig it out.

[–]SqBlkRndHole [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

And he's not the first teenager to annoy Maya archaeologists. David Stuart started at the age of 12. YouTube documentary

[–]its_zoj_yo 128ポイント129ポイント  (30子コメント)

The lost city has a pyramid that is 86 meters high, as well as 30 other visible structures

How did we not know about this place?

[–]twominitsturkish 223ポイント224ポイント  (18子コメント)

OP's article is fairly lacking, this one is better but it's in French. Apparently the area where the city is in a very remote and inaccessible area on the Yucatan peninsula ... seeing as it was in the middle of nowhere and covered under 800 years of foliage, I'm guessing it's just that no one had looked there. Once they looked based on his findings, archaeologists probably used satellite topography to locate the structures.

The really ingenious thing that this kid did was to surmise that the location of Maya cities were often in places you wouldn't think them to be, away from rivers and other transportation points, so there must be some other reason for their placement. Given how much the Maya loved the stars and constellations, and guided the economic and spiritual lives of their cities based on celestial events, it makes total sense to overlay maps of the constellations to locate cities. This beats the shit out of ever science fair project I ever did growing up.

[–]PhonedZero 37ポイント38ポイント  (3子コメント)

There are very few surface rivers in the Yucatan, but a vast underground network of rivers and cenotes. The city was likely located near a large cenote.

[–]guidepin 19ポイント20ポイント  (2子コメント)

[–]AndrewWaldron [スコア非表示]  (1子コメント)

Safe to say, your reply doesn't leave us feeling short changed.

[–]abdullahcfix [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

If I had a dollar for every time a pun thread showed up...

[–]Onespokeovertheline 14ポイント15ポイント  (5子コメント)

So is the implication that the Mayans must have had very capable cartography?

[–]TheOdyssey_ 27ポイント28ポイント  (4子コメント)

Pretty sure they're on Mars now

[–]Eurynom0s 18ポイント19ポイント  (3子コメント)

It was the only way to get away from Montezuma.

[–]Dr_Zandi 10ポイント11ポイント  (1子コメント)

His revenge is unavoidable.

[–]slackdastard 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

But the lines to his ride is very avoidable.

[–]baloneybopper [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

He still seeks revenge on unsuspecting tourists

[–]magoosauce 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

I thought my baking soda and vinegar volcano was pretty sweet but yea this is way better.

[–]Zeddikus 6ポイント7ポイント  (5子コメント)

Apparently the area where the city is in a very remote and inaccessible area on the Yucatan peninsula

Yeah, but isn't there a app out, or you know, hasn't a program been written by now to look at the vast satellite data and find anomalies like 86 meter tall pyramids? I guess the answer is no, and that is depressing. We can create racist twitter AI's, self driving cars, and masturbation devices that simulate and stimulate both partners through the internet but when it comes to finding ancient pyramids in desolate locations we have to rely on a 15 year old to overlay a star chart on a map.

[–]Mendican [スコア非表示]  (3子コメント)

Earth is a very big place, and finding lost cities in the jungle doesn't rank very high on the list of human priorities. Finding these places is fascinating and exciting, but the net gain for humanity is zilch.

[–]Shanguerrilla [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

I think it has let to do with net gain for humanity (of which these things hold a lot), versus net profit for those who fund it (of which masterbation products hold a lot more).

[–]Bartalmay [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

I agree with it all but the zilch for humanity. New discoveries expend and broaden us in a surprisingly powerful way...

[–]SupesGirl [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Well, it might lead to discoveries on the Mayan. This comes with the assumption that anything they left is in good condition. (Which probably isn't the case, unfortunately)

We know very little about the Mayans. It would be great to find out more.

[–]elastic-craptastic [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

I would like to think that they do but don't advertise the findings as poachers would get there before they could get funding to check even a small percentage of them.

[–]SirMothy [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

My toothpaste inside the tube invention :(

[–]Nonchalant25 25ポイント26ポイント  (5子コメント)

With all respect,you could yourself probably be standing and walking on this pyramid and never know what your feet are actually on. Everything has been assimilated into the rest of the earth. There are many cities and great human achievements we haven't found yet. Covered by Forrest. Water. Desert. Swamp. People love to think we know everything and all about earth. We have barely explored it though. And we have only guesses and theories for even a fraction of the artifacts we have found. We can't even explain how the ones we find were created. We are not quite the super enlightened species you might think we are. The earth is still quite a mystery to even us.

[–]Soncassder 6ポイント7ポイント  (0子コメント)

I remember reading an article years ago about how they are able to locate such ruins by satellite. The technique relied upon discoloration of surrounding foliage caused by the accumulation of the quarried stone from which rain runoff would leech minerals that foliage would then take up.

It's possible someone new, but realizing there may not be the money to excavate such sites instead chose to not release their location. IDK.

But, what this kid did is amazing.

[–]hapakal 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

Because over the centuries the jungle consumes them and they look like natural formations.


This is one of the coolest stories I've ever heard of !!. Congrats to this kid/ His future as a Mayanist is all but assured.

This one is also up there. The retired banker Richard gill who it looks like figured out one of the greatest pre-columbian mysteries of all (not comparing to the pros who, over decades deciphered their incredible script. See Breaking The Maya Code)

Here's some cool Maya-related scans and references if anyone's interested ☺

[–]dpash 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Check out satellite images of the Mexico/Belize border, especially in the north west Belize and you'll see huge patches of forest. Much of it unexplored by foot. People may have flown over it, but unless they were looking, probably didn't pay much attention to it.

[–]BlueSatoshi 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

We do. There are tons of overgrown buildings and temples over there, it's just too costly to do anything with them.

[–]ihave_problems 15ポイント16ポイント  (0子コメント)

We didn't know about this one. There were 117 known Mayan cities known to us. He found the 118th one.

[–]Dabee625 78ポイント79ポイント  (4子コメント)

When I first read this headline, I imagined some kid wandering into a bustling city and a bunch of Mayans just kinda froze when they saw him.

[–]Problem119V-0800 43ポイント44ポイント  (3子コメント)

"Oh shit! Act Aztec, maybe he won't notice!"

[–]dpash [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Acting Aztec is probably the last thing you want to do when you find yourself face to face with a Mayan.

What you need to do is to puff yourself up so you look bigger, and hopefully scare them away.

[–]indridcold137 29ポイント30ポイント  (6子コメント)

Hey, I discover cool, hidden things with google maps, too! See, I found a meth lab in the Oregon desert! https://www.google.com/maps/@44.1827723,-121.2379149,87m/data=!3m1!1e3

[–]indridcold137 11ポイント12ポイント  (0子コメント)

Not gonna lie, looks like that lab is just the methiest.

[–]TheEnigmaticSponge 7ポイント8ポイント  (1子コメント)

Oh wow, a math lab in rural Oregon? Never woulda guessed...

Sorry for the sarcasm, I grew up in rural Oregon, and meth labs aren't exactly rare, especially in the hills and deserts.

[–]TRAUMAjunkie 13ポイント14ポイント  (0子コメント)

Yes, but how rare are math labs?

[–]oahut [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

The Oregon parlance for this phenomenon is end-of-roaders. Could be meth lab, could be cannibals all named Larry.

[–]Yodan 19ポイント20ポイント  (0子コメント)

Living the dream.

"So grandpa, whats a cool story of yours?"

"Oh you know, that time I discovered an ancient mayan city. No biggie."

[–]Hashe88 81ポイント82ポイント  (4子コメント)

"This young man is hoping to go to the International Science Fair in Brazil in 2017 but is lacking in the necessary funds. If you are interested in helping him get there, you can contact him at will_maya@live.ca. Felicidades, William!"

What an amazing find. This kid needs help getting to Brazil.

[–]slapadastic 0ポイント1ポイント  (2子コメント)

There's a pretty strong probability that the local Mayan communities in the area know, and have known, about the site. There's a conflict between their desires to maintain possession of their heritage and the Mexican government's desire to take possession for eco-tourism, to antagonize the Mayan communities, and make Mayan culture "Mexican" culture. I'd certainly want input from the Mayan community leaders in the area before allowing any credit elsewhere.

*Site appears to be in Belize per /u/klesmez

[–]klesmez [スコア非表示]  (1子コメント)

The French language website has a map that shows it's in Belize.

[–]slapadastic [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Then I redact, as I have no personal knowledge of indigenous peoples/Belize gov't relationship.

[–]pikachoosey 37ポイント38ポイント  (3子コメント)

A photo would be cool...

[–]i124qnds 44ポイント45ポイント  (1子コメント)

Why do you need a photo? Just use ancient Mayan worshipped constellations and line them up to NASA satellite photographs to find the city. Duh.

[–]pikachoosey 11ポイント12ポイント  (0子コメント)

Awe...makes perfect sense i was having trouble converting from base 10 to base 20. Found the city.

[–]bate178[S] 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

According to this article they haven't been to the site yet as it is fairly hard to access.

[–]rylos 10ポイント11ポイント  (0子コメント)

He probably hid it himself, just so he could be a hero for "finding" it. Kids do that kind of shit.

[–]Rocket_McGrain 34ポイント35ポイント  (1子コメント)

Well shit, now I feel even more worthless.

[–]ThatsMyHoverboard 14ポイント15ポイント  (0子コメント)

Now I feel useless. Just kidding! I already do!

[–]StarMoses1 6ポイント7ポイント  (1子コメント)

This guy now has ultimate bragging rights,

Oh you climbed mount Everest. Let me tell you how I discovered a ancient Mayan city when I was 15.

[–]painalfulfun 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

From another part of the planet.

[–]konkatenate 16ポイント17ポイント  (6子コメント)

Here's a more detailed source [in French]
edit: image

[–]ActuallyYeah 6ポイント7ポイント  (0子コメント)

The ruins in that image are Tulum's I wanna say

[–]nashkara 6ポイント7ポイント  (0子コメント)

You'll have to see it to Belize it!

[–]dpash [スコア非表示]  (2子コメント)

That is very far from the Mexico-Belize border, as the original English article claims. I'm not even sure there's much jungle in that part of Belize.

[–]konkatenate [スコア非表示]  (1子コメント)

I don't know which article is "the original" but given the story comes out of Quebec, and google news places the one I posted as 16 hours ago [all the other stories appear to have been written after it]. My French is a little rusty, but this one seems to quote sources that might have taken a bit of work, where the other articles really do seem to be derived from the one in The Journal de Montréal.

[–]dpash [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

By original, I meant OP's linked article. Yucatan living.

I suspect the map is just "representative" rather than trying to give accurate location details.

I can't find anything in the Belize press about it and if it was in Belize they'd definitely be interested (although it might be too soon for them to report it; they're not the most well-resourced journalists/country).

[–]foundafreeusername [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

TIL Belize is a country in central America ... seriously never heard about it

[–]TesticleMeElmo 9ポイント10ポイント  (0子コメント)

Legend of the Hidden Temple revamp is a GO!

[–]awesomemanftw 21ポイント22ポイント  (0子コメント)

Viral uncharted 4 marketing

[–]tamecow 29ポイント30ポイント  (2子コメント)

Data mayaning at its finest.

[–]nkeogan 3ポイント4ポイント  (1子コメント)

Future Nathan Drake ladies and gentlemen

[–]Six_Foot_Turkey_64 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Fuck that, this is the plot to Indiana Jones 5!

[–]panthers105 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

How come i cant find anything else about this?

[–]evilcounsel 4ポイント5ポイント  (2子コメント)

So, a modern day Goonies?

[–]SplodeyDope 6ポイント7ポイント  (1子コメント)

Chester Copperpot left another map behind!

[–]evilcounsel 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Hopefully we find the real Sloth.

[–]TyrellTJ 3ポイント4ポイント  (1子コメント)

What have I been doing with my life...

[–]fatgirlsgive-RIMJOBS [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Spending too much time rubbing lotion on your penis.

[–]Warlock420 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

I just watched a NOVA special on PBS about ancient Viking colonies and there is a lady doing almost the same thing. She is using UV satellite imaging to locate undiscovered ruins in the North America's.

[–]gnovos 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

This young man is hoping to go to the International Science Fair in Brazil in 2017 but is lacking in the necessary funds. If you are interested in helping him get there, you can contact him at [REDACTED]. Felicidades, William!

I smell maybe this story is about "give us money" more than "look what we found"

[–]Xnipek 7ポイント8ポイント  (15子コメント)

It is wonderful that this kid is so passionate about his interests. He clearly has a lot of drive and took a novel approach for his science project- it looks like he did a fantastic job putting it together. His poster is 3 sheets long!

Having said that, though, there are a couple of major flaws with this. First, his basic premise is simply not science: pick a constellation, pick sites that "fit" the distribution (what's the scale? which sites are the ones that fit this pattern?), and then discover a site where one star/site is missing. For every site that is included on the map in the article, there are hundreds of others that are not, and at least dozens of other sites of an equal or greater size that aren't in this constellation pattern. Using this same methodology I could choose a constellation, say Gemini, which the ancient Maya viewed as a pair of copulating peccaries, and overlay it on a map and find enough sites to fill it in. I could probably make a giant smiley face while we are at it. All this would establish is that there is a high enough density of sites across an area that you can connect the dots how you see fit, but this doesn't say anything about how they saw the world.

Secondly, he may have 'discovered' a site- I can't tell if he has or has not from the article. There are thousands of sites still out there that haven't been registered, many of which are known to local populations. So he may have found something new, and that in itself would be an incredible contribution, especially from someone his age. But if his new site is in the Belize River Valley, which it looks like it may be from the map, you can't throw a rock in that area without hitting an archaeologist. That area has been intensively studied for decades and there is unlikely to be an unknown major site anywhere near there.

Finally if this new site really has a 86 meter tall pyramid in it, then we are going to have to rewrite all the textbooks since we have a new record for tallest pyramid in all of the New World, bumping out the Pyramid of the Sun. I don't think this is very likely. I would believe that he found a pyramid built on top of a hill that together reach that high about the valley floor, or that the pyramid is actually a natural hill. All of this would be quickly resolved with a visit to the site, which is why archaeologists always ground truth remote sensing imagery before going public.

tl,dr: My money is on the kid identifying a real site on the satellite imagery, whether it has been previously identified and registered or not. It just doesn't have a 86m pyramid on it, and it isn't in that location because of some constellation.

Source: I'm a Mesoamerican archaeologist doing this stuff for a living.

[–]Ucumu 6ポイント7ポイント  (0子コメント)

Thanks for eating the downvotes on this (Fellow Mesoamerican archaeologist here), but you're absolutely right.

I know it sounds like you're raining on this kid's parade, but it's important to keep things realistic. It's awesome that he's able to analyze remote sensing images and Maya codices at age 15 (the kid's got a bright future in the field if he sticks with it), but it's really unlikely that he found anything that large in that particular region that nobody knew about already. And the fact that archaeological sites on the landscape line up with constellations is almost certainly coincidence. Everything we know about the Maya indicates that they were not politically unified at all. They were a series of autonomous city-states, many of which did not get along with each other at all. The idea that they all came together and coordinated the distribution of cities to match a constellation would require ignoring a ton of evidence to the contrary.

The longer French article linked above also claims:

In addition, the method used by William [of aligning constellations to the landscape] works with Aztec civilizations, the Inca, and Harapan India.

Yeah... I'm calling this bullshit. People "discover" sites all the time, especially in the more densely populated regions of Mesoamerica. He may have found something, but that doesn't mean it's something nobody knew about already, and it certainly doesn't mean his theory about constellations is correct.

[–]PhonedZero 3ポイント4ポイント  (2子コメント)

totally out of left field, but is there any kind of organization that helps folks that would like to offer their free labor to a dig site. Been interested in archaeology since childhood but it just wasnt to be, but ive often thought it would be a great way to spend a holiday.

[–]Ucumu [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Uh... not really. You can go to field school, where you pay for college credit to go down and learn how to excavate on archaeological sites. There are quite a few in Belize. Additionally, if you are willing to work on somewhat-less-sexy hunter-gatherer sites in North America you could probably find volunteer work with local survey projects. But typically if you want to work in the field even as a grunt, you're expected to have:

A.) A bachelor's degree in a relevant field like anthropology, and

B.) previous training from a field school.

If you're interested and/or still in college I would definitely recommend taking one of the Belizean field schools. They cost about as much as a college course + travel expenses, but you get to spend your summer excavating in ancient ruins in the rain forest. Be prepared to sweat a lot and get eaten alive by mosquitoes and doctor flies.

[–]ClockworkAeroplane 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

ive often thought it would be a great way to spend a holiday.

Hah!

I have a friend who studied archaeology in college. He changed majors because of the labor.

[–]killaimdie 15ポイント16ポイント  (2子コメント)

Well, I can understand your frustration that this teenager was able to do something in his free time that you probably haven't, but you are misrepresenting what he did. You also aren't helping your case by misrepresenting what he did in the saltiest way possible.

You refuse to believe that this kid may have had a genuine insight into Mayan cultural imperatives without getting a degree, but he had a hypothesis, tested it, and got results. Fairly certain that fits the scientific method. People responding the way you are is what gives crackpot pop-archeologists legitimacy, by waving your hands in frustration and deriding this kid you make yourself sound like a close minded ass.

[–]monkeyhammar 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

You sound quite butthurt.

[–]the_falconator 7ポイント8ポイント  (2子コメント)

Sounds like your just jealous

[–]Jijster [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Alright, guys maybe he was somewhat... annoyingly dismissive in his post but i think what he's saying is that he suspects the source may be misrepresenting the facts. If true it's a pretty remarkable story, so i think a little skepticism from professionals in the field is warranted here.

[–]IFL_DINOSAURS 0ポイント1ポイント  (2子コメント)

He's fucking 15 and you sound salty as shit.

[–]ClockworkAeroplane -1ポイント0ポイント  (0子コメント)

I'm a Mesoamerican archaeologist doing this stuff for a living.

Thank you. Although it doesn't take your background to smell a whole lot of bullshit here.

How do you lay out the constellation over the land? What is "under" a star? The planet moves. Stars change position in the sky. There is no "under," because nothing is flat and they are at totally different scales.

We have one crummy paragraph on a nothing site and a French-language article about same. Nothing else.

I don't buy the story at all. None of it.

[–]Crystallion22 [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

That was my dream as a child hahaha

[–]pantsmeplz [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Wonder if they'll find any more info about Ixzacca in this temple?

[–]Flesh_Trombone [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

How could a Mayan city stay hidden for so long, Without the help of Ancient Aliens

[–]IHeartmyshihtzu 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Must have been some powerful shrooms.

[–]sock_lover 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Now that's grit. Respect and congratulations.

[–]italliansbarro 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

Source unreliable, can someone confirm? Why isn't this news anywhere to be found?

[–]Assassin_Robot 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

It was published in a few papers in Quebec. It's not yet big new cause nobody went there to confirm it yet. I tried to look it up myself on google earth but couldnt find the coordinates of the ruins. could't find his paper either but they said he's working with an archeologist to publish in a legit journal.

[–]HAT_W0BBLE 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

Clever boy.

So they can see the pyramid from satellite but no one has explored it on the ground? I'd assume locals have been in the area. I wonder if it's no big deal to the locals since they're so used to Mayan ruins.

[–]flickerfly 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Seems plausible no locals exist in the area since it is remote.

[–]Magicalgirloverdrive 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

Bet that kid is Kryptonian.

[–]Grond2016 -1ポイント0ポイント  (4子コメント)

Tell me his name is Indiana. Please.

[–]rilian4 3ポイント4ポイント  (1子コメント)

No...the dog was named Indiana ;-p

[–]Maverick314 1ポイント2ポイント  (1子コメント)

I'd even accept Harrison

[–]KarthusWins -1ポイント0ポイント  (0子コメント)

It's happened. The Startling has begun. Everyone get to your guinea pig shelters asap!