The viral story of a teenager who discovered an ancient Mayan city Tuesday on Google Maps may not be true after all.
According to archaeological experts, the supposed lost pyramid that 15-year-old William Gadoury from Quebec, Canada found is likely an abandoned field and another spot in the images may be a small dry lake or clearing in the jungle.
What is true, however, is that Gadoury presented his theory of Mayan cities correlating to constellations a few years ago at a conference where he also happened to be next to a Canadian Space Agency booth.
Scientists from the Agency decided to help test Gadoury’s theory and turned the satellite RADARSAT-2 to a corner of Mexico where the teen predicted the city may be. The images indeed showed manmade structures, but they’re not likely to be an entire lost city.
Experts are also skeptical of the claim that the Mayans built cities according to constellations; their bizarre city locations may instead be explained by more practical factors, such as access to certain resources.
Archaeologist Richard Hansen also said that the location of the supposed lost city is very close to the Mayan city of Uxul, which has been under excavation since 2009.
Still, the possibility of a teenager finding a long-list city using everyday technology is a concept many are wanting to get behind. Space archaeologists like Sarah Parcak would like it to be easier to study science.