The uplifting tale of a Canadian teen who unwittingly discovered a lost Mayan city is being called into question by experts who say that he probably didn't.
News of William Gadoury matching constellations to Mayan cities and possibly finding an undiscovered site of significance made headlines around the world on Tuesday.
However a number of anthropologists and remote sensing specialists soon stepped forward to take issue with the assertions.
Their prevailing response is that the tantalizing 'structure' found in the image of the city is actually just a field used to grow crops and abandoned around a decade ago.
Additionally, it was noted that the Mayans had their own constellations that were unlike ours and experts actually don't know much about them.
Thus Gadoury may have been matching stars that had altogether different meanings to the Mayans, making his work a mistranslation.
By and large, the response to the Gadoury's story from experts was dismissive but appreciative of the teen's efforts aside from one critic who cruelly called his work "junk science."
If the original incarnation of the findings was a boost to 'weekend warriors,' this new twist to the tale can be chalked up to the power of peer review.
In other words, leave it to the mainstream science world to rain on the parade in Gadouryville.
Source: Gizmodo