Experts Reveal Secret Lost Caribbean City
Researchers have announced the discovery of a huge ancient city, lost beneath the Caribbean Sea. Yet despite possibly predating the pyramids at Giza, its finders insist their breakthrough is not the legendary city of Atlantis. Satellite images of the city - which is not the same as the underwater site off the coast of Cuba proposed by Russian experts in 2001 - appear to show a pyramid, platforms and ruined buildings. And the project's leader, who wishes to remain anonymous, is conviced they're no fluke of nature.
"We’ve found structure: what appears to be a tall, narrow pyramid; large platform structures with small buildings on them," says the expert. "We’ve even found standing parallel post and beam construction in the rubble of what appears to be a fallen building. You can’t have post and beam without human involvement."
"No-one will ever strap on a SCUBA tank, jump in the water, and find a sign that says, 'Welcome to Atlantis'"
Yet as much as the incredible discovery suggests a highly-developed culture, the team leader is keen to quash any connections with Plato's fabled city of Atlantis, a myriad sites for which have been mooted over the years. "The romanticized ideal of Atlantis probably never existed, nor will anyone ever strap on a SCUBA tank, jump in the water, and find a city gateway that says, ‘Welcome to Atlantis.’
"However," the leader speculates, "we do believe that this city may have been one of many cities of an advanced, seafaring, trade-based civilization, which may have been visited by their Eurocentric counterparts." The insider says the team has "several theories" as to why the city now finds itself submerged, but insists it will be turned over to local authorities when an upcoming mapping mission is completed. "Whatever we’ve found does not belong to us," the leader says, "It belongs to the people of this island, and to the world at-large. If any pieces are brought to the surface, they belong in the hands of a museum."
Underwater archaeology sites have provided some of the more eye-catching of this year's stories at Heritage Key. Take the ongoing quest for Cleopatra's tomb at Taposiris Magna - or the holidaying schoolkid who discovered a Graeco-Roman port off the coast of Montenegro. Dr Zahi Hawass has also been filling our pages with his exploits digging the Nile.
Where do you think Atlantis is? Or is it just a fiction perpetuated by mercantile archaeologists? Have your say via the comments box below or by emailing me direct.
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UPDATE: I've been trying to contact the alleged discoverers for some time with little joy. Then today I received an email from Italian journalist Marco Narducelli, who helpfully pointed me in the direction of this follow-up story from the Herald de Paris published yesterday.
Without wanting to get too complex, the story was basically created deliberately vague to drum up interest in the area and its exploration, so that the team could acquire funding. This excerpt, from Italian blog Th Historical Fact tells a little more about our story, which was even picked up by one of Italy's biggest newspapers (see here).
"The "discoverers" have just released satellite images without even say if there have been at that site. E tuttavia chiedono fondi tramite un numero di telefono (peraltro del giornalista che ha avuto l'esclusiva della notizia). Still available by calling a telephone number (which the journalist who had the exclusive news.)
"I decided to disclose this alleged discovery just because recovery from Heritage Key notoriously reliable. I contacted the journalist, Sean Williams, who, skeptical like me, is looking further confirmation.
"If you currently hold some idea (or know something
) I would be curious to hear your opinion by leaving a comment or writing me.
"In any case, until new updates, I can only consider this news as unreliable.
"Jes Alexander, a journalist who published the exclusive, reveals to be one of the researchers themselves, and says that the news (based only on satellite imagery) was deliberately "mounted" to get funding with which to make a shipment."
...We've already got plenty of Pyramidiots: we might have to stretch to Atlantidiots.
i just saw a video on the Huffington Post. This claim is ridiculous.
Anonymous scientists touting great discoveries while looking for funds? I've never heard of a credible science team that works this way.
This is simply not how archaeology is done.
Where is it located? How exactly was it found? Who are the scientists? What institutes do they work for? What are the qualifications of these scientists? What specifically will the money be used for? Why is this request being done through a newspaper? Why is a newspaper publisher part of what should be a scientific team? Why remain anonymous?
Until one of these so-called experts coughs up some good answers I'm not treating this story with any more seriousness than a supermarket tabloid.
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