Posted on 12/06/2001 9:37:13 PM PST by spycatcher
HAVANA (Reuters) - Explorers using a miniature submarine to probe the sea floor off the coast of Cuba said on Thursday they had confirmed the discovery of stone structures deep below the ocean surface that may have been built by an unknown human civilization thousands of years ago.
Researchers with a Canadian exploration company said they filmed over the summer ruins of a possible submerged ``lost city'' off the Guanahacabibes Peninsula on the Caribbean island's western tip. The researchers cautioned that they did not fully understand the nature of their find and planned to return in January for further analysis, the expedition leader said on Thursday.
The explorers said they believed the mysterious structures, discovered at the astounding depth of around 2,100 feet and laid out like an urban area, could have been built at least 6,000 years ago. That would be about 1,500 years earlier than the great Giza pyramids of Egypt.
``It's a really wonderful structure which looks like it could have been a large urban center,'' said Soviet-born Canadian ocean engineer Paulina Zelitsky, from British Columbia-based Advanced Digital Communications (ADC). ``However, it would be totally irresponsible to say what it was before we have evidence,'' Zelitsky told Reuters.
Zelitsky said the structures may have been built by unknown people when the current sea-floor actually was above the surface. She said volcanic activity may explain how the site ended up at great depths below the Caribbean Sea.
In July 2000, ADC researchers using sophisticated side-scan sonar equipment identified a large underwater plateau with clear images of symmetrically organized stone structures that looked like an urban development partly covered by sand. From above, the shapes resembled pyramids, roads and buildings, they said.
``ULISES'' ASSISTS UNDERWATER ODYSSEY
This past July, ADC researchers, along with the firm's Cuban partner and experts from the Cuban Academy of Sciences, returned to the site in their ship ``Ulises.'' They said they sent a miniature, unmanned submarine called a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) down to film parts of the 7.7-square-mile area.
Those images confirmed the presence of huge, smooth, cut granite-like blocks in perpendicular and circular formations, some in pyramid shapes, the researchers said. Most of the blocks, measuring between about 6.5 and 16 feet in length, were exposed, some stacked one on another, the researchers said. Others were covered in sediment and the fine, white sand that characterizes the area, the researchers said.
The intriguing discovery provided evidence that Cuba at one time was joined to mainland Latin America via a strip of land from the Yucatan Peninsula, the researchers said.
``There are many new hypotheses about land movement and colonialization, and what we are seeing here should provide very interesting new information,'' Zelitsky said.
ADC's deep-water equipment includes a satellite-integrated ocean bottom positioning system, high-precision side-scan double-frequency sonar, and the ROV. The company currently is commissioning what it calls the world's first custom-designed ocean excavator for marine archeology to begin work both at the Guanahacabibes site and at ship wrecks.
ADC is the deepest operator among four foreign firms working in joint venture with President Fidel Castro (news - web sites)'s government to explore Cuban waters containing hundreds of treasure-laden ships from the colonial era. The Canadian company already has discovered several historic sunken Spanish ships.
In an earlier high-profile find, ADC was testing equipment in late 2000 off Havana Bay when it spotted the century-old wreck of the American battleship USS Maine. The ship had not been located since it blew up mysteriously in 1898, killing 260 American sailors and igniting the Spanish-American War.
The rush of interest in Cuba's seas in recent years is due in part to the Castro government's recognition that it does not have the money or technology to carry out systematic exploration by itself, although it does have excellent divers.
American companies are prohibited from operating in Cuba by the long-running U.S. embargo on the Communist-run island.
Perhaps the city was a repository for some incriminating billing records of a corrupt first lady of a bygone era?
Why are the ancient Chapapoya Indians of Peru blond-haired then?
Masonic traditions reach back to Zoroasterian origins, far enough back to have a record of such a city. There are other, more tangible evidences ancient exploration and perhaps trade with Central America conducted by both Hebrew and Phoenician civilizaions. There is evidence of a global drug trade extending back at least as far as the pre-Mosaic dynasties of Egypt.
There were many.
Well now we know about YOUR credibility. There is WAY too much evidence on the archaeological record of pre-Columbian trade between the Americas and the Afro/European region for you to make an assertion like that responsibly.
Not to mention the bowler (derby) hats! :)
Why do you think the fables of one ancient storyteller somehow make the fables of another ancient storyteller true? How do you think legends spread?
You show me an ancient Egyptian document, or a great shining gold pillar, and I'll take it all back.(oh that's right, they all conveniently disappeared!)
Right now, what you have is the equivalent of saying that the tooth fairy is real because you read about Peter Pan and it mentions his friend Tinkerbell.
Would you care to explain how Egyptian (africa) mummies have been found with nicotine and cocaine (native american plants)in them then ??
A lot of what we call historical truth can be revealed as WAGS(wild ... guesses).
"Martin Bernal, a historian of Cornell University, says it is important to remember that before the discovery of this Norse settlement in Newfoundland in 1965, theories about Viking voyages to America were dismissed as nonsense. What we have seen is a shift from the idea of Viking landings in America being seen as completely fantastic or partisan, to being accepted by every scholar in the field."
From here you'll find that quote and more info about botanical products that may have been traded much earlier than thought.
So don't base your concept of reality on old stories. I hope you see the irony that you are indeed doing that -- just as you tell others not to. There's no need to feel threatened when evidence arises that changes how we see the world and the past. It happens every day and we don't want you to have a heart attack!
When they all have the same story, it can't be a coincidence.
How do you think legends spread?
So you guys are saying that legends can easily spread but people can't?
You show me an ancient Egyptian document, or a great shining gold pillar, and I'll take it all back.(oh that's right, they all conveniently disappeared!)
They predated the common Egyptian dynasties.
Right now, what you have is the equivalent of saying that the tooth fairy is real because you read about Peter Pan and it mentions his friend Tinkerbell.
No, you have people spread all across the earth with the same story and now more and more cities that are 12000+ years old are being found to support those stories. See Tiahuanacu. It's astronomy structures are built to align the solsices as they were 13,000+ years ago due to the earth's wobble.
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