Fifteen-year-old William Gadory, who lives in the Canadian city of Saint-Jean-de-Mate, has been studying the Mesoamerican Mayan civilization since 2012, known for its astronomical and mathematical research, unique architecture, writing and art. According to the student, what amazes him most of all in the life of the Indians is that all their life and beliefs were conditioned by the stars and space.
The young Canadian wondered more than once why the Mayans rarely built cities in places most favorable for life, for example, near fresh water bodies. Instead, representatives of the ancient civilization, as a rule, for some reason erected settlements on the slopes of the mountains and in the hard-to-reach jungle. Last year, Gedori had an insight: what if the Indians chose the places to build their cities in accordance with the position of the stars in the sky?
Mayan error or modern researchers?
To test his theory, William made his own map of all the Mayan settlements on the planet and compared it with a constellation map. It took the teenager almost a year to do this. The schoolboy superimposed one hundred and seventeen ancient cities on the schemes of twenty-three constellations. It turned out that he was right - Indian cities are located clearly under the brightest stars of the sky! However, the Canadian ran into a small snag last month. Under one of the major luminaries, which the Maya people simply could not but attach due importance to, there was no city, according to official information. Has a civilization so advanced for its time made a mistake or did not manage to complete its grandiose project of worshiping cosmic forces?
Gadori opened Google satellite maps and found on them the place where the next lost Indian city was supposed to be. The resolution of the wilderness images was extremely low, but the student nevertheless noticed a kind of square in the dense jungle of Central America. Obviously, the teenager could not make the trip there. Without thinking twice, he turned to the Canadian space agency for help, and experts kindly provided the young compatriot with photographs of the area of interest, taken by American and Japanese satellites. The quality of the images was significantly higher compared to publicly available Google maps, and William immediately saw that an unknown Mayan settlement was located in an impenetrable forest.
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City of Fiery Jaws
Later, Mexican specialists flew there by helicopter. It turned out that one of the largest Indian cities was hiding in the jungle, with more than three dozen buildings, including four unique pyramids. The minor discoverer rightfully got the honor to give the find a name, and Gedori named the ancient settlement K'aak Chi, which translates into Russian as "mouth of fire".
Thus, an ordinary Canadian schoolboy, without leaving his home, made a significant discovery that all scientists on the planet were not capable of. According to the youngster, he was immensely happy to make a feasible contribution to the scientific field that interests him so much.