Boy's 'Mayan' Discovery Not Likely a Lost City

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This is What’s Trending Today…

This week, news spread that a 15-year-old boy from Quebec, Canada, may have discovered a long lost Mayan city.

The boy, William Gadoury, said he used satellite imagery and to test his theory that major Mayan cities lined up with the stars in the sky.

A few years ago, Gadoury won a competition that let him present his theory at a conference. Next to him at the conference was the Canadian Space Agency representatives. The agency decided to help Gadoury with his research by pointing one of its satellites at an area in Mexico. The area was where Gadoury predicted he would find evidence of a lost Mayan city.

As Wired.com reported, the satellite images did seem to show possible “manmade structures.”

News that a Canadian teenager possibly discovered a “lost Mayan city” went viral on Tuesday. It was even a trending subject on Facebook.

But, within hours, experts were saying that people were getting too excited too quickly about the possibly discovery. Wired.com and other media spoke with experts in many areas, including archaeology and satellite imagery research.

Experts say the ruins that appear in the satellite images are probably an old corn field. They also say a connection between the stars and the location of Mayan cities is unlikely.

But, the experts also praised the 15-year-old for his dedication to his research.

And that’s What’s Trending Today.

I’m Ashley Thompson.

Ashley Thompson wrote this report for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

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