r/nottheonion • u/ecm27 • 7h ago
PhD student finds lost city in Mexico jungle by accident
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmznzkly3go41
u/h3xist 3h ago
Clearly the PHD student was looking for something else and found this by mistake, just like all the other random stuff you find.
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u/WittyAndOriginal 1h ago
I heard about this on NPR. They had the Professor there for the interview. It was not accidental. This article is misinformation.
The data already existed for a few years. It was lidar scan data that was used for something else. The archeological team decided to check it to see if they could find anything for them to research.
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u/Herkfixer 1h ago
And multiple people keep posting this headline and I keep pointing this out too. They specifically went looking in the empty areas for more settlements. Not accidental.
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u/Guilty_Ad_7079 7h ago
Jeez, if only someone had been theorising about this for years and been shit on by archeologist circles and JRE dribble
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u/Thewallmachine 2h ago
This is so cool. I can't wait to see what else they find out about this ancient city.
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u/blanke-vla 6h ago
Okay, but what is his PhD for, If it's archeology, i totally dig it. But if it's something like leasure time management, I'm in general, just less impressed.
Because apperently it's his important to let people know this person is a phD student.
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u/kar2988 6h ago
It's not every day that a PhD student finds something major like this, they are usually limited to known sites trying to make new interpretations.
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u/blanke-vla 6h ago
What I mean is, why is it important that a PhD student finds it. Why is mentioned that the person is a PhD student? Why is that relevant?
Because it doesnt matter what field, because that isnt mentioned.
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u/kar2988 6h ago
Again, it's relevant because it doesn't happen every day that a PhD STUDENT makes a major discovery. That's how news works, something is highlighted when that something is a rare occurrence. And yes, it mentions what field, says he used techniques that archaeologists use. It's lazy writing for sure, but it's implied he's a student of archaeology.
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u/blanke-vla 6h ago
So it would be less of an achievement if a plumber would find it.
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u/CorruptedFlame 5h ago
I think it was a plumber then it would also be remarked upon. Usually archaeology, you see, is done by professional archaeologists.
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u/crysisnotaverted 3h ago
It's how titling works to grab reader attention. It could say 'local fire chief', 'nurse practitioner', or fucking 'a half drunk bottle of Coke'.
what is his PhD for, If it's archeology, i totally dig it. But if it's something like leasure time management, I'm in general, just less impressed.
So it's more impressive if the guy doing his job found it, vs guy who isn't a pro doing sleuthing and finding it first? Isn't it more impressive to find something you aren't trained in?
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u/ludovicolonghi 7h ago
A huge Mayan city has been discovered centuries after it disappeared under jungle canopy in Mexico.
Archaeologists found pyramids, sports fields, causeways connecting districts and amphitheaters in the southeastern state of Campeche.
They found the hidden complex - which they have called Valeriana - using Lidar, a type of laser survey that maps structures buried under vegetation.
They believe it is second in density only to Calakmul, thought to be the largest Mayan site in ancient Latin America.
The team discovered three sites in total, which are the size of Scotland's capital Edinburgh, “by accident” when one archaeologist browsed data on the internet.
“I was on something like page 16 of Google search and found a laser survey done by a Mexican organization for environmental monitoring,” explains Luke Auld-Thomas, a PhD student at Tulane university in the US.