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.”
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.’
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.