7,000-Year-Old Sunken City

They may not have found Atlantis yet, but another sunken city has been found. Like Atlantis, this city also inspired a myth. An island that was partly submerged off the coast of the Ile de Sein of France gave the Brittany region its own local lore for thousands of years.

It was here that marine archaeologists spotted the remains of a 7,000-year-old wall about 30 feet below the surface. It belonged to a stone age civilization and is thought to have been one of two things; either a fence to collect fish or a dike built to protect against rising waves.

LIDAR data found eleven structures at the bottom of the ocean. Sea level data reflecting changes in the sea level and vertical land movement indicate they dated back to between 5,800 and 5,300 BCE. This was a time of transition from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle to permanent settlements. At that time, the shoreline was several miles out to sea.

This find predates the first Neolithic megaliths in Brittany by at least 500 years. But little archaeological work has been done in the deep areas of the Brittany coast because of difficulties in accessing such sites.

Shell middens near the short and megaliths further out give evidence of coastal human populations in the region, but the ocean has not given up many artifacts. Fragments of this wall weigh 3,300 metric tons, which might support the idea that it was built to prevent flooding when the sea level rose.

Whatever the purpose of this wall, it was designed to withstand storms and erosion. Standing stones within the structure are similar to others found in inland Brittany and parts of Stonehenge, the largest being nearly 10 feet high. This structure’s arrangement of monoliths, slabs, blocks, and boulders suggests a complex architecture, which has not been found in nearby fish fences. The community that built the megalith must have had technical skill and social organization.

There may also be a link to the City of Ys, which involves a Breton legend passed down through centuries by oral tradition. Ys is thought to have been submerged in the Bay of Douarnenez, which is just east of Ile de Sein. So this legendary city might have actually existed in prehistory.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/archaeologists-found-evidence-of-a-7-000-year-old-sunken-city/ar-AA1SBj2I?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=69446e95433043ca8ed260af6652d221&ei=28

Atlantis?

Some scientists have found some ancient islands deep underwater in the Atlantic Ocean. Some experts believe the drowned landmasses may be the potential inspiration for the well-known myth of Atlantis. They have even gone so far as to call the find “Lost Atlantes”, after the fabled civilization that the gods drowned.

Some of these islands still have their beaches intact. They are located on an underwater mountain located around 1.4 miles (2.3 km) underwater off the coast of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

Researchers say that 56 to 34 million years ago, Los Atlantes was a series of islands topped by 3 now inactive volcanoes. When the volcanoes stopped erupting, the lava solidified and became denser, causing the islands to sink into the sea.

Despite the passing of millions of years, the islands have retained distinctive features, such as beaches, cliffs and sand dunes at the flat summit of the mountain. The sand which now covered the volcanic rock would have been deposited as the islands descended into the water.

Some of the beaches lie only 200 ft (60 meters) below the oceans’ surface. During the last ice age, when sea levels were far lower than today, the inactive volcanoes would have become islands again. These islands could have been colonized by wildlife, or even early people. When the ice age ended and sea levels rose, the islands sank again.

In my opinion, if there were people living on these islands during the last ice age, and at least some of them escaped when the sea levels rose, I’m sure they couldn’t resist telling anybody they met about their escape. Such a tale, handed down from generation to generation, could have easily become the myth we still know today.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tripideas/the-origins-of-atlantis-discovered-off-the-coast-of-lanzarote/ar-AA1oIRiY?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=35a8ff97a59b43ddb693e2b85c252796&ei=79

Lost Continent

We’ve all heard of Atlantis, which was a ‘continent’ or at least a city that reportedly sank into the ocean due to some natural disaster. Every few years, there is some report in the news of the latest theory about where that continent or city was located.

When I was considerably younger, I read at least one book about the lost continent of Lemuria. I keep wanting to say the book I read was written by Lin Carter, who did write about Lemuria (before it sank into oblivion), but it was so long ago that the name of the continent is all I remember. Nowadays, Wikipedia says that a lost continent called Lemuria was proposed in 1864 by zoologist Philip Sclater, who theorized it was located in the Indian Ocean. The idea was debunked in the 20^th century once scientists understood plate tectonics and continental drift.

But a team of scientists really have discovered a lost continent now, which they are calling Zealandia. Most of it is underwater, but New Zealand and some other islands stand up far enough to be above the ocean. Zealandia is more than half the size of Australia, and it extends northwest and southeast of the New Zealand islands.

It was a part of Gondwana when that supercontinent existed, but when it started to break apart, Zealandia was one of the parts, breaking away around 81 million years ago. Then 95% of that part, Zealandia, sank beneath the waves.

The scientists have finished mapping Zealandia recently after 20 years of work, and they state that it contains a vast array of diverse rocks that proves it is made of continental crust, so it is not just a section of seafloor.

Zealandia is sometimes referred to as Earth’s 8^th continent.

 

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

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/scientists-finally-finished-mapping-earth-s-8th-continent-zealandia-helping-them-solve-the-lost-continent-s-mysterious-history/ar-AA1hu1QE?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=71bd9ad3ca8b4b63b9e2633f4f699f75&ei=36#image=AA1bYYe9|1