Free Astronomy Magazine July-August 2016

ARCHAEOASTRONOMY structures in the Yucatan jungle was not an easy task, but the use of satellite images, as well as the contribution of digital image processing, allowed to bring out these structures and confirm their possible exis- tence” . Yet again De Lisle, in a statement to The Independent , with reference to the satellite images: “There are linear features that would suggest there is something underneath that big canopy” . From the Daily Mail we also learn that: “Dr. Laroc- que thinks William Gadoury’s technique could lead archaeolo- gists to pinpointing the location of more possible lost Maya metropolises” . If all this wasn’t enough, someone even start- ed thinking about a scientific paper for announcing the dis- covery on specialist magazines, with Wil- liam among its au- thors. In addition, a fundraising was launched to take the very young discoverer and the results of his work at the Expo-Sciences International 2017, in Brazil. If this was really the way science worked, it would be reasonable to cast some doubt on the capabilities of hundreds of archaeol- ogists that for generations explored every corner of the Yucatan Peninsula to search T he Google Earth maps used to confirm the existence of a pyramid (top, where in reality what is seen are two polygonal structures) and a settlement of about thirty hous- es (side). These features have been wrongly in- terpreted as build- ings of an un- known Mayan city. [Google Earth]