Quebec teen uses stars to locate possible lost Mayan city in Mexican jungle

Last Update: May 11, 2016 at 12:30 pm

William Gadoury, 15, gets Canadian Space Agency involved in determined search for ruins

 

SOURCE CBC:

A 15-year-old boy from Saint-Jean-de-Matha, Que., has discovered what could be the ruins of a lost 4,600-year-old city in Mexico by comparing ancient star charts and the positions of known Mayan ruins.

William Gadoury, a Grade 10 student at Académie Antoine-Manseau in Joliette, became interested in Mayan civilization in 2012 and wanted to understand how the Mayans chose where to build their cities.

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He turned to the stars to try to find the answer and came up with a compelling theory.

“The Mayans were extremely good builders, but they often built in places that made little practical sense — far from rivers, far from fertile areas. It seemed strange for a civilization that was so intelligent,” he told CBC News.

“I knew they were good at astronomy, so I tried to make the link.”

Gadoury studied 22 Mayan constellations and found that when they were overlaid on a map they matched the placement of 117 known cities. But a 23rd constellation was incomplete.

“I realized then that one city hadn’t been discovered,” Gadoury said.

 

FULL STORY AND VIDEO:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/william-gadoury-quebec-teen-mayan-lost-city-csa-1.3575416