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Artist’s representation of Atlantis.

Ancient Submerged Cities: Rethinking Our Ancestry

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By Leonardo VintiniEpoch Times 

They realized that the men had rebelled and decided to exterminate them. Thousands of pumas left the cave and devoured the man who begged the devil for help. But the devil remained unmoved by their pleas. Seeing this, Inti, the god of the sun cried. Her tears were so abundant that in forty days the valley was flooded.”—Inca legend of Lake Titicaca

Consider one anthropological hypothesis that concedes the possibility of a prehistoric humanity enjoying a high degree of technological development. Some evidence suggests that ancient people appear to have crafted a technology significantly more advanced than what we might imagine. Much of the support for this idea comes from the discovery of dozens of ancient cities submerged beneath the oceans across the entire planet.

Surprising cases like that of the Yonaguni structures off the coasts of Japan, or the submerged “Mega city” accidentally discovered off the northeast coast of Cuba, continue to offer researchers clues to what was once considered merely geographical mythology—tales such as those of Atlantis, Mu, or the land of Thule. Every few years a long-sunken discovery lends support for this prehistoric empire hypothesis.

Reconstructed Image taken from the sonar scan of the sea floor off the coast of Cuba.

Reconstructed Image taken from the sonar scan of the sea floor off the coast of Cuba.

Urban Architecture from an Impossible Time

A typical example of the archeological ruins described above was found in waters 120 feet deep in the Gulf of Cabay, located off the western coast of India. It is estimated that the vast city, discovered by chance during an investigation on pollution, could date back some 9,000 years.

Using a sonar tracker, investigators managed to identify defined geometric structures at a depth of about 120 feet. From the site, they recovered construction material, pottery, sections of walls, basins, sculptures, bones, and human teeth. The carbon tests indicate that these pieces were 9,500 years old.

Before this finding, anthropologists thought that the area had not seen civilization before 2,500 B.C. This ancient city, therefore, was even older than the Harappan civilization, once believed to be the oldest of the subcontinent.

Painting by Grinlay’s (1826-1830) of ‘The sacred town and temples of Dwarka.’

Painting by Grinlay’s (1826-1830) of ‘The sacred town and temples of Dwarka.’ (Public Domain)

Another surprising case came in 1967, when the Aluminaut—an exploration submarine capable of submerging deeper than any craft of its day—casually discovered a “road” off the coastal zone of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.  Found at a depth of nearly 3,000 feet, this road traced a straight line for more than 15 miles.

Even more surprising, this road had been paved with sophisticated cement composed of aluminum, silicon, calcium, iron, and magnesium. Despite its age, the road was found to be free of debris due to an underwater current that kept it clear.

This forgotten road still proved a worthy thoroughfare as the special wheels of the Aluminaut allowed the sub to actually travel along the enigmatic highway. Later, scientists exploring the area found a series of monolithic constructions at one end of the road. What technology could construct a long paved road that would remain in good condition for 10,000 years?

A more recent discovery of this type took place in 2004, when the same tsunami that battered the coasts of Southeast Asia also moved tons of sand from the cost of Tamil Nadu, India. The storm cleared years of dust that led to the discovery of the mythical city of Mahabalipuram.

According to local legend, the city of Mahabalipuram suffered a great flood, submerging it in a single day 1,000 years ago, when the gods became jealous of its beauty. The local inhabitants recounted that six temples were covered by water, but that part of the seventh remained on the coast. The team of 25 divers from the Archaeological Survey of India explored the extensive area covered with man-made structures, ranging at depths of between 15 and 25 feet below the water.

The scale of the submerged ruins covered several square miles, at distances of up to a mile from the coast. Conservative estimates of the age of these constructions range from 1,500 to 1,200 years old, though some investigators say they originate from up to 6,000 years ago.

Submerged Temple at Mahabalipuram

Submerged Temple at Mahabalipuram (public domain)

The Yonaguni Structures

Classified by some scientists as the archeological find of the century, the structures accidentally discovered off the Japanese coast of Yonaguni offer ancient architecture in the form of pillars, hexagons, stairs, avenues, arcades, and even a stepped pyramid.

While the most conservative hypothesis postulates that the Yonaguni structures are the product of the marked seismic activity in the area, the precise angles of the rocks and their arrangement in relation to one another suggest that this site might hold remnants of a submerged city.

Evidence in favor of this stance includes the chemical composition of the chalky rocks (which do not naturally exist in the region), two openings about 6.5 feet deep adjacent to the structures—which no archeologist dares to classify as a natural formation—and an oval-shaped rock that does not appear to belong to the set, but exhibits a clear northward facing point. The entire submerged city of Yonaguni is estimated by some to be at least 10,000 years old.

Underwater structures at Yonaguni, Japan

Underwater structures at Yonaguni, Japan

Marine archeology has only become an academic possibility in the last 50 years with the introduction of scuba gear. According to marine archeologist Dr. Nick Flemming, at least 500 submerged sites containing the remains of some form of man-made structure or artifacts have been found around the globe. Some calculations figure that nearly a fifth of these sites are more than 3,000 years old.

Certainly, some of these sites were washed away by floods, but others may have found their place at the bottom of the sea through tectonic shifts. As many of these places were originally built on solid, dry land, Earth may have been geographically quite different than what we know today. Likewise, these people would have come from an era more remote than what we understand as the dawn of civilization.

So, is our current civilization the greatest mankind has ever known, or merely one tiny peak among many in a cycle that stretches far into the distant past? The answer might be found at the bottom of our oceans.

Featured image: Artist’s representation of Atlantis. Source: BigStockPhoto

The article ‘Ancient Submerged Cities: Rethinking Our Ancestry’ was originally published onThe Epoch Times and has been republished with permission.

 

Comments

Pete Wagner's picture

It’s a big mess as it is.  They place new theories overtop the big old ones that never added up in the first place.  But if it stuck once, they want to stick with it, so they do what they need to do to keep it strong, so they don’t have to admit EVERYTHING is wrong.  So they twist information and conceal a lot, and even manufacture things to fill critical voids.  Call it a leaning house of cards.  

Now, on the submerged stuff, they don’t focus on the science of it.  Having mysteries are better and divert attention from the weaknesses of their grand theories.  The science says that right before the Ice Age, circa 115k BC (adding the zero back to Plato’s Atlantis timeline) there were NO ice caps.  It was hotter and seas were hundreds of feet higher.  Richat Structure was exactly as Plato described Atlantis.  Then, after the Ice Age begins, seas drop dramatically as seawater gets locked up in glaciers and polar ice caps.  Some Atlantean survivors of that stonemason culture then start to rebuild near the water as they had once done.  Then, some tens of thousands of years later, the melting begins and those stone complexes get swallowed by the seas.  The reality is, we’re STILL coming out of the Ice Age.  Global warming is a diversion.  The polar ice caps of today will one day be gone, just like it was back in the Golden Age.  Maybe life will be better too, ...if we can hold out.
 

Nobody gets paid to tell the truth.

LadyGreenEyes's picture

I am frustrated by the lack of good research into these many underwater sites.  I know cost and safety are both major issues, but the knowledge that could be obtained could change the world.  I hope that these sites can be properly investigated, and that data found won’t be concealed or altered to fit some preconceived notion.

LGE

I look forward to learning about all new archaeological reports

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