Teenager Discovers Mayan City While He Remains in Quebec

[Malthus]

On the other hand the Mayans did build temples and other structures based on astronomical observations. It is not totally out the realm of possibility.

I disagree. Building a particular complex based on astrological/astronomic alignments is a very different thing from choosing a city's location.

In the former case, the decision has already been made to build a set of ceremonial structures, and there often isn't any real practical reason to build them oriented one way or another.

In the case of a city, even leaving aside the impossibility of Mayans cooperating in some sort of grand city layout plan, there are a bunch of hard-core practical concerns as to where the damn thing has to be located. You need things like access to water, or a highly defensible location. You can't just pop them anywhere, because the star-map says so.

Take a couple of specific well-known examples.

Chichen Itza is where it is because of its massive cenotes, that provide water in a near-desert:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichen_Itza#Location

Chichen Itza is located in the eastern portion of Yucatán state in Mexico.[11] The northern Yucatán Peninsula is arid, and the rivers in the interior all run underground. There are two large, natural sink holes, called cenotes, that could have provided plentiful water year round at Chichen, making it attractive for settlement. Of the two cenotes, the "Cenote Sagrado" or Sacred Cenote (also variously known as the Sacred Well or Well of Sacrifice), is the most famous.

To anyone who has actually been to the place, its location makes perfect sense: there, in the middle of a near-desert, is a wonking huge sinkhole filled with water.

Or take Yaschilan, where I went a couple of years ago. It was very obviously placed where it is because of its location in a defencible loop of the river, that provided water and trade routes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaxchilan

Yaxchilan is located on the south bank of the Usumacinta River, at the apex of a horseshoe-shaped meander. This loop defends the site on all sides except for a narrow land approach from the south.

Once again, actually visiting the site makes it obvious why the city was located there, and not somewhere else.

If the 'star map' theory was correct, it would have to account for these placements - of cities that developed hundreds of years apart, in different parts of the country (Chichen Itza rose after the collapse of the lowland Maya). It's just not on.

[The Brain]

BUT Ancient Aliens.

[Brazen]

On the other hand the Mayans did build temples and other structures based on astronomical observations. It is not totally out the realm of possibility.

I disagree. Building a particular complex based on astrological/astronomic alignments is a very different thing from choosing a city's location.

Told my archaeologist friend about this. He said, and I quote: "Bloody Canadian teens! Hateful little shit! Constellations indeed. Pile of arse. Sheer coincidence."

[Valmy]

Where did the 'hateful' bit come into it?

[Brazen]

Where did the 'hateful' bit come into it?

Over here it means "deserving of hatred". Because he's a jammy git. Which may also not translate.

[lustindarkness]

Where did the 'hateful' bit come into it?

All teenagers are hateful little shits.

[Valmy]

Because he's a jammy git. Which may also not translate.

Yeah it might not

Pretty harsh.

[Malthus]

On the other hand the Mayans did build temples and other structures based on astronomical observations. It is not totally out the realm of possibility.

I disagree. Building a particular complex based on astrological/astronomic alignments is a very different thing from choosing a city's location.

Told my archaeologist friend about this. He said, and I quote: "Bloody Canadian teens! Hateful little shit! Constellations indeed. Pile of arse. Sheer coincidence."

Your archaeologist friend is more Languish than I am.  [hangs head in shame]

[Razgovory]

I'm curious how the kid would have gotten access to Mayan maps.

Surely that would all be publicly available to any motivated enthusiast. It is not like Mayan studies are a state secret.

No, I mean maps the Mayans used.  To find cities corresponding to constellations requires the Mayans to have very accurate maps.  I don't think there are any surviving maps created by the Mayans, and I doubt any maps they had are as accurate as Google earth.

[Malthus]

I'm curious how the kid would have gotten access to Mayan maps.

Surely that would all be publicly available to any motivated enthusiast. It is not like Mayan studies are a state secret.

No, I mean maps the Mayans used.  To find cities corresponding to constellations requires the Mayans to have very accurate maps.  I don't think there are any surviving maps created by the Mayans, and I doubt any maps they had are as accurate as Google earth.

It's a good point, and yet another reason why this theory must be bunk. It is very unlikely that the Maya would have been able to actually do it, even if they wanted to.

[Valmy]

It's a good point, and yet another reason why this theory must be bunk. It is very unlikely that the Maya would have been able to actually do it, even if they wanted to.

Come to think of it, it does remind me a bit of the basis of bunk Egyptian Pyramids pseudo-history. They were built to reflect the exact location on the earth of Orion's Belt in the sky...which they determined somehow...even though it constantly moves around.

[PDH]

Maybe the re-figured their constellations after making their cities

[Jacob]

Maybe the re-figured their constellations after making their cities

Seems a reasonable hypothesis.

[derspiess]

Dumbass kid

[Valmy]

Dumbass kid

Harsh Spicey. I don't say that about your kid whenever he strikes out.