Mystery History - Pt1. - The Underwater Cities.

in #history7 years ago

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In my recent series 'When does a myth become truth' I brought to you a number of historical mysteries and anomolies that force us to question everything we've been told about our history. In the first post of the series I wrote about The Lost City of Dwarka, a city believed to be a mythical creation but proved to be a real place when discovered more than a hundred feet under the ocean off the NW coast of India.

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How many more significant settlements have been found at the bottom the world's oceans and lakes?

It turns out there are many and they cover the entire globe, some submerged by man, others indicate that the history of mankind's development told to us by academia has a missing or deliberately hidden epoch. Proving when sea levels rose is relatively easy and indisputable so there can be no argument from scholars regarding the dating of some of these sites.
So why isn't it a bigger subject? Why aren't we hearing this in the news? Surely decoding the riddle that is our lost history is more newsworthy than the latest utterance of a criminal politician or a vapid celebrity?

Apparently not! Thank goodness we have Steemit then.

Below I have picked three such sites, all submerged at different times by nature and by man.

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The Underwater Cities.

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The myth of Atlantis is one that has stood the test of time and captured the imaginations of people since first told by Plato in his works Timaeus and Critias in the 4th century BC.
The idea that such a bountiful land could disappear overnight into the ocean and forgotten to time is a powerful one which gives people pause for thought.

If the story is true could it happen to us? It is this question that I think is what goes through the minds of many people when looking at the subject. What could happen that is so catastrophic that a whole island and it inhabitants should disappear in the blink of an eye?

There are many reasons why a village, town or city would end up underwater and not all of the events happened in antiquity. Let's take a look at some of the more interesting sites that are dotted around the globe, and see how and when they became submerged.

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The Yonaguni Monument. - Japan.

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The Yonaguni Monument or Pyramid as some call it is found off the coast of Yonaguni which is the southern most of the Ryukyu Islands in Japan just 100km east of Taiwan.

The site has been hotly debated in recent years as you have many scholars who believe it is a man made site and other who believe it is a quirk of nature. The top of the monument sits just 16ft below sea level however it rises approximately 90ft from the seabed.

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There are some respectable scholars that believe this is a natural formation although I find the acute angles and apparent pathways and steps at the site extremely interesting, and although I'm not a geologist I'm not sure I believe everything about this place could be from natural occurrences. Others are convinced it is a man made edifice and evidence found at the site suggests that is the case. Below is a picture of how the monument looks in entirety.

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To my admittedly untrained eye this does appear to resemble a man made structure. Whether or not it was a naturally occurring edifice that has been altered by man or completely carved by man is a question that came to my mind when I first saw it. Not once did I think it was a product of natural forces, so let's take a look at what the academic world have said regarding this intriguing site.

This article from collective-evolution.com gives opinion from both sides of the argument.....

A City From The Past?

Amid controversy the Yonaguni monument is a submerged rock formation that is thought to be the remnants of a 10,000 year old Japanese civilization. It was discovered by Dive Tour operator Kihachiro Aratake in 1985. Masaaki Kimura a marine geologist at the university of RyuKyus in Japan has spent fifteen years diving amid the Yonaguni anomaly. Kimura over these years has come to the conclusion that this monument is most definitely human made.

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According to Kimura, “The largest structure (Yonaguni monument) looks like a complicated, monolithic, stepped pyramid that rises from a depth of 25 meters [82 feet]”.
The structure itself looks a lot like a ziggurat, a type of structure found throughout the world in Latin American pyramids and Middle Eastern cities such as Ur. However this construction is not alone.

Alongside the monument ten other structures have been found on Yonaguni, including a castle, five temple-like structures, and what seems to be a huge stadium. What is more interesting is that all of these structures are connected by roads and water lines.
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The Yonaguni monument itself has had the most research undertaken upon it. The monument is made of sandstone, and is derived from the same singular rock formation, a staggering rectangle 150m by 40m and reaching 27m in height. On the peak of the monument a figure thought to be a Turtle has been worked into the stone, with straight edges and incredibly precise corners. Nearby are what seem to be stairs, cut into the sandstone. But how could this structure be created by humans if it is underwater? A marine geologist by the name of Robert M. Schoch accompanied Kimura and Hancock on a dive in 1997 and to the bewilderment of the rest of the crew deduced that the monument was just a natural formation. Schoch believes that the whole monument would have been created by wave erosion over millions of years, and even claimed that the precisely cut corners and stairwells were all produced by random wave erosion. While Schoch had previously been open minded in regard to structures such as the Sphinx being 10,000 years old, he was not convinced at Yonaguni. This seems to be another case of mainstream science refusing to identify anomalies that do not fit into their crafted version of human history. In response to Schoch, Kimura identified several different areas on the monument where it is clear that humans have depicted drawings of animals, disproving the theory that the monument is just a natural formation.

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However there still seems to be a huge problem with the Yonaguni monument. How was it built if its underwater, and by whom? Kimura claims that Yonaguni was built over 10,000 years ago, when sea levels where much lower than they are now. During this time, Yonaguni Island would have connected to main land Taiwan, possibly an important trade route for their civilization. In the recent decades, findings have found many settlements on the seabed along this land bridge. Interestingly, this fits into the picture, as it is becoming more and more accepted that there was some sort of advanced ancient civilization living around that period. Kimura, backed by Hancock, also believe that it was built by an advanced civilization that may be linked to the lost continent of Mu, but this is still unproven. Yet how did this supposedly advanced civilization disappear? According to Kimura either rising sea levels eventually led to the abandonment of the city, or a earthquake displaced the island, letting the Yonaguni platform sink into the sea. Either of these scenarios are stark warnings for our modern and seemingly advanced civilization. We are just as vulnerable to earthquakes, and our own actions through our irresponsible use of Earth’s resources are contributing to the changing sea levels. Regardless, Yonaguni stands as a testament to the power of nature.

The Yonaguni monument is surrounded in mystery. It has been swept under the carpet of mainstream human history and in the process could wipe out a key period in Asia’s ancient history. Masaaki Kimura and people like Graham Hancock continue to show the world the unhidden mysteries that it still holds for us and lead the charge in rewriting our history on Earth.

Its an interesting statement the author makes at the end. 'Swept under the carpet' is a phrase I've heard numerous times in recent years from frustrated historians and archaeologists who are literally digging into our lost history, coming up against a wall of silence or carefully crafted narratives when dealing with colleagues in the mainstream history camp. Physical evidence is slowly being collected at the site linking it to people in antiquity so I'm hopeful as the investigation into this fascinating site continues its true history will be revealed. For more information on this site click here and for a deeper look at the physical evidence found at the site as well as an interesting perspective of its story click here.

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The City of Shi Cheng, Qiandao Lake - China.

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I have picked this site for a number of reasons. The first being that this city was deliberately submerged by the Chinese government when they created Qiandao lake in 1959 when completing the Xin'an hydroelectric power station.

The second reason being we have the unique opportunity for before and after pictures of this city that was founded over 1300 years ago. The city of Shi Cheng is also called Lion City and now resides between 85ft and 130ft below this idllylic looking man made lake. Let's dig a little deeper into the story and take look a some of the incredible underwater pictures of the city as it looks now.
This article from China-underground.com has the best images I've found of the city before and after it was flooded.

It reads....

All Shi Cheng Images Sourced here

Recently Chinese National Geographic magazine published a series of great pictures about Shicheng City (literally, Lion City), Zhejiang. On the Chinese net, we found some interesting views of the city before it was flooded.

At the foot of Wu Shi Mountain (or "Five Lion" Mountain) lies an ancient city known as Shi Cheng ("Lion City"). It was built during the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25 - 200) and was first set up as a county in AD 208. At present Shi Cheng remains undisturbed at a depth of 26-40m.

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The city was once the center of politics, economics and culture of Sui'an County in that area.

According to the restored map of Shicheng, there were five city gates in all directions. You can find one city gate tower on each city gate and all together there are five towers.

Six streets in Shicheng City were used to connect every corner of the city as a whole. The typical roads in Shicheng City were stone roads, tidily paved by flagstone and pebbles.

It does make you wonder what abilities the ancients had to manipulate the landscape this way, this is by no means the only city/settlement found at the bottom of an inland water course. Did this type of thing go on in the distant past?

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There is no mystery to this site however I find its deliberate flooding intriguing. What I find most fascinating about this site is that it was almost forgotten after 50 years! How would we view this in a thousand years if we had no idea of the deliberate flooding of the area? The wooden structures will disappear over time however the stone and brick edifices are better preserved underwater than exposed to the elements above water so future generations will no doubt rediscover this city at some point in the distant future.
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Thonis-Heracleion. - Egypt.

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Thonis-Heracleion was a city named twice, first by the Greeks and again by the Romans. Founded around 2700 years ago on the site of present day Abu Qir bay it sits 15miles NE of Alexandria. Lying over 4 miles from the current coastline and 30ft underwater the city has an over all search area 6.8 X 9.32 miles!

The city was said by Herodotus to have been visited by Paris and Helen of Troy and that they were possibly stranded there prior to the Trojan wars. This is of course unverified however considering Troy itself was a myth until proven to be a real place in relatively recent times, I'm not surprised evidence is thin on the ground. The pictures from this site are amazing in the amount and quality so let's take a look.

Lets start with this article from atlasobsura.com .....

It was barely more than a legend. Appearing in a few rare inscriptions and ancient texts, the city of Thonis-Heracleion was hidden away for thousands of years, submerged deep under the sea.

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After searching for years by screening the vast area of the Abu Qir Bay off the coast of Egypt, French archaeologist Franck Goddio and his team saw a colossal face emerge from the watery shadows. Goddio had finally encountered Thonis-Heracleion, completely submerged 6.5 kilometres off Alexandria’s coast. Among the underwater ruins were 64 ships, 700 anchors, a treasure trove of gold coins, statues standing at 16 feet, and most notably the remains of a massive temple to the god Amun-Gereb, and the tiny sarcophagi for the animals that were brought there as offerings.

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The ruins and artifacts made from granite and diorite are remarkably preserved, and give a glimpse into what was, 2300 years ago, one of the great port cities of the world. The harbor of Thonis-Heracleion (the Egyptian and Greek names of the city) controlled all the trade into Egypt.

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Built around its grand temple, the city was criss-crossed with a network of canals, a kind of ancient Egyptian Venice, and its islands were home to small sanctuaries and homes. Once a grand city, today its history is largely obscured and no one is quite sure how it ended up entirely underwater.

The quality of the stonework is astounding, no surprise from the Greeks and Romans as their sculptures and architecture are littered throughout Europe and North Africa for all to see, however to find a once great city preserved under the ocean is a real treat.

It was roughly 1200 years ago this once great city finally slipped under the waves never to be seen again by those on land. Why? Volcanic activity? Earthquake? Cosmic event? No one seems to have a definitive answer to that all importantly question.

The man who discovered the city and who is leading the excavation Dr Frank Goddio was quoted in 2013 saying.....

"We are just beginning our research. We will probably have to continue working for the next 200 years for Thonis-Heracleion to be revealed and understood." Source

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I hope you enjoyed this brief look at some of the cities that now reside underwater. As stated at the beginning there are many worldwide with many more I'm sure waiting for discovery. Atlantis hunters will no doubt find many of them as they search for that elusive link to an unknown past, treasure hunters seeking fortune will stumble upon them whilst scouring the ocean beds for lost bounty and maybe new ground and ocean penetrating technologies fitted to our satellites will help uncover them. I for one can't wait to see which ancient city or civilisation is rediscovered next

Thank you for reading Mystery History.

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Steemshelves Thank you for visiting, for more please come back to @tremendospercy or alternatively check me out at

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I've never read any of your posts before but this was so incredibly well-written and interesting that I am excited to read more. I enjoy that you weren't shy on the amount of pictures you added; the quotes you used were great and I enjoy that you added your own commentary as well. I'm sure it took a lot of work to make this post so thank you very much for sharing!

Thank you for the kind comment.
Feel free to go back through my blog. I've done many historical posts which you may find interesting. Thanks again for checking in.

Hey @tremendospercy another great post my friend!! From my own observations nature seems to abhor both straight lines and right angles. Like yourself I'm no expert but my first though when seeing the Yonaguni monument is that it's manmade! Carved out of a natural formation? yes I can go with that but there certainly seems an element of design within this structure. With regards to Shi-Cheng, like you say if you can forget about such amazing architecture and design after fifty years what hope can we have of having historical records relating to cities that are thousands of years old! Of course they would pass into myth, of course people would think they know better and would tut at their mere mention. Indeed the world we inhabit now may in the distant future exist only within the realms of myth. Imagine the stories they would tell of this present age, nobody would believe them! The sheer beauty of Thonis-Heracleion makes me want to take up diving!! stunning. Great post, so glad I caught this! Thanks for sharing!!

Thanks buddy. I can't imagine believing the stories of how our world works right now in the future. I suppose that's the same way many think now when they hear 'myths' from antiquity.
Thanks for reading and commenting mate.
See ya soon.

Love it TP. As you were insinuating in the beginning TP (I believe) - I wonder if these city folk at their time, were responsible for their own climate / planetary changes, or whether our planet simply changes over time.

They may well have had experimented in weather manipulation. The problem is like our experiments now there are always unintended consequences. Geoengineering concerns me, messing with Mother Nature rarely ends well. I believe Yonaguni was built pre-flood so being under the ocean is no surprise. There are plenty of other examples of submerged settlements the world over, some by modern design, some due to seismic occurances and some much older ones built in extreme antiquity, it is the latter that fascinate me. Hopefully more research will be done to unlock the truth regarding that unrecorded epoch.
Thanks for reading and commenting buddy.

Awesome awesome awesome as usual every time I read one of your journeys to the past I'm left with a euphoric feeling, like there is so much fun and excitement to be discovered in this boring world <3 <3 <3 <3 Thanks TP for broadening my horizons yet again!!

Haha, so true. I only ever found history boring at school. My Dad used to buy me history books and read them to me pre-school age so I can't remember a time when it wasn't interesting other than school.
Hopefully people's interest in the mysteries of our past will be piqued by some of the posts. The lies we get told today regarding almost everything are habitual within the 'ruling classes' and I believe began a very long time ago to cover up our true beginnings.
Thanks for your support babe 😉

I'm sharing it on fed book so hopefully some more will read it!

Very interesting @tremendospercy

Is this evidence of a global flood?

I look forward to reading part 2.

Cheers mate. Part two will be a different subject as the posts are an introduction to some of histories more mysterious anomolies. I think Yonaguni and Dwarka are potentially evidence of the Worldwide 'great flood' as the construction dates are way back. Greco/Roman sites like Thonis-Heracleion however would be due to local flooding in the Mediterranean and besides they're not old enough. There are more being discovered especially in Asia where they have their own local flood and Atlantis type stories. They also have the oldest histories according to their own historians. Vast tracts of land were submerged very quickly across south and south east Asia so I'm sure many more will come to light in the coming years.
Good to see you back mate.

Hi @Steemtruth,

I'm Joshua Golbuu or Josh for short and I just joined @TeamAustralia a few weeks ago.

I wanted to drop by and say hello but I couldn't find any recent posts of yours so I guess this reply will have to do. I don't have many recent posts since finishing my exam a week ago, but I very much like to get to know everyone in our team.

Here is my first attempt to help spread some truth, make a difference, and promote #TeamAustralia, Steem, and Steemit, my Post: 10 Ideas How 'The Edge' Can Help A Steemian Start A Business and Promote The Steem Spirit

Hope we will meet on Steemit 🤙.

Peace ✌ & 💖 love!

Thanks for reaching out @joshua-golbuu and nice to meet you.

I apologise for the slow reply. I've been inactive for a few months due to other commitments but I'll soon be active again.

All the very best!

Another item to add to the buck list, visit the under sea cities. Very cool information TPercy

Cheers Kubbster. Yeah I'd love to dive in some of these places however I think some would be spooky! 😉

Diving in some of these places does seem spooky, thanks for coming with me. If anything attacks I know you'll protect me!

I wonder if we are watching History Channel. I mean, there are lots of channels in the TV but I happen to watch the same 4-5, and they are pretty much within same characteristics. Animals, History, Nature, Science and Universe. Good post my friend. Keep it up you are always adding lots of interesting posts.

Thanks buddy.

Hey there @tremendospercy ! Your posts are really amazing and the photo illustrations are just well awe inspiring eh ?? Like we said on an earlier post, so much beneath our feet that we dont know of, the same with our oceans eh ?? When you consider that the earth is two thirds water on the surface, that makes for a lot of stuff hidden from view !! I live in the Canaries, there are theories that these islands are inded the remnants of Atlantis as it was ripped apartby some huge geological event !! Noahs Arc ?? Steem On Brother !

Thanks buddy.
The Canaries are interesting. I remember reading about a tribe of tall blonde haired people that lived there that just disappeared, and Tenerife has a Pyramid. I'll have to do a bit of digging and see if there is post in it.
Thanks for checking in buddy.

Yes thats right , that would be the Guanche as they are known here !! They were sadly exterminated over a certain period by the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadores under of course Columbus !! Remenants of the the lost civilisation of Atlantis ?? They were actually themselves cave dwellers when Columbus arrived ! There are theories that say that they might be natives of the Sahara that navigated from Morocco, but one wonders why would anyone do that, for what purpose ?? To live in a cave on a very vlocanic island ?? Seems strange to me !!

very interessting!

I had taken a diving tour at Yonaguni this year. The explanation by the diving instructor was the structure was carved out of stones and foundations, but they were drowned by rising sea levels thousands of years ago. A intermediate level of diving experience can get you there. There are some diving shops that offer this tour on Okinawa island. And the waters there are of high clarity. Would highly recommend this diving tour to anybody who visits Okinawa for vacation!

That's brilliant that you had the chance to dive at Yonaguni. What was your gut feeling about the site?

Woooow! This is quite amazing man.....you really did your home work... @tremendospercy thumbs up!

Thanks for reading it dude.

A truly mind blowing read ! It's like reading Jonathan Swift travel story :) but this one is with a whole lot of evidence. I am looking forward with more of your 'When does a myth become truth'.

I wonder percy, If you're interested about ancient temples and the myth surrounds it.

Thank you.
I'm interested in all ancient history as much of it links despite time and distance. Some of the ancient temples are shrouded in mystery.

wow!, what great information and intriguing enough to want me to study more

That's great and what I'd hoped for. There are so many sites and so much information about each one it's impossible to write extensively about all of them, study more dude it's a fascinating subject.
Thanks for reading and commenting buddy.

Really appreciate the effort you put into these, I love reading them :)

I'm nothing near a geologist, though I do seem to vaguely recall that "steps" can be made by eroding softer rock faster than harder rock underneath it. I have seen and walked on natural steps that are pretty flat and are even a bit angley but not to the extent that humans like to polish their steps. I haven't seen a lot of things though so it's entirely possible that first structure was created entirely naturally by wave movements. Similar to you though my untrained eye also reckons someone got into it with tools XD

Appears people in the past got up to a fair bit more than we think they did? :O

Thanks for popping in mate, yes there is a lot we still don't know about the past. I do believe the great flood wiped out way more than we know and maybe some other 'cosmic event' before that. The timelines seem to go so far back now were unlikely to ever really know, which is sad. There were clearly people with extraordinary talents in deep antiquity that were like us however circumstance made them develop on a different path. The further back you go the better the architecture seems to be, weird and fascinating.

Amazing information! Looking forward to learning more.

Thanks buddy.

Another great article, im just not sure about Yonaguni, ive seen rock formations eroded into some strange shapes, so im keeping an open mind on that one.

Always a good idea however there is so much more to it buddy, there are other structures at the site as well as laid blocks, alleyways and entrance ways. The post is a taster of info out there for people to research.

Love that photo- looks like Aladdin's lamp!

Another stellar article my friend! After a couple years of this, you'll have to compile these into a book :)

Have you found much info about Mu?

Yeah, I loved that picture too.
I'm going to do a post in this series on the lost continents so Mu will feature. 😉

Calling @originalworks :)
img credz: pixabay.com
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you do realise that that first image is a modern sculpture?

apart from that some interesting food for thought for sure

Yes I know, I just liked it as an underwater image.

Another item to add to the buck list, visit the under sea cities. Very cool information TPercy

What?! The same comment twice, are you spamming me Kubby? 😂😂❤️

Silly internet connection is causing me to spam twice 😂 don't forget to upvote both :)

This wonderful post has received a bellyrub 6.15 % upvote from @bellyrub thanks to this cool cat: @tremendospercy. My pops @zeartul is one of your top steemit witness, if you like my bellyrubs please go vote for him, if you love what he is doing vote for this comment as well.

I don't know if you've covered it, but it seems that the mythical land-bridge between India and Sri Lanka has been discovered, too.
I watched an interesting lecture on the Great Courses site once; it was about how the universe as we know it today would one day disappear, and when it does there will be no way to know that it ever existed. In those days, if humans still exist, they'll have no way to 'prove' that things were ever any different than the way they will know them to be. It is quite possible we've already gone through such an event sometime in the past.

Agreed, I think it may have happened a number of times throughout the history of mankind. We just have clues and hints left as breadcrumbs from the past to follow. Many myths speak of world's being destroyed maybe they allude to our world and the devastation wrought upon it in antiquity.
Thanks for reading and commenting buddy.

Earthquakes are the reason of this. No need to be important heavy earthquakes, just the ground in constant movement.

very interesting.. specially Egyot^^
Thank you for writing~

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I watch Ancient Aliens and find history interesting. Though I'm not one to just "accept" what I'm told, I keep an open mind when it comes to history. After all, I wasn't there (well, maybe I was in a past life but I can't remember lol).
Very fascinating ideas nonetheless! :DVery fascinating @tremendospercy thank you for sharing!

hey really it attract me.Wonderful knowledge

So interesting... to see the underwater structures... and read about the findings... Really cool!