- page twelve -
more Yonaguni evidence from the personal website of
- Professor Masaaki Kimura -
University of the Ryukyus
Okinawa, Japan
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The controversy that has erupted in archæological circles around the world since the discovery of an enigmatic
structure, described by some as 'pyramid-like', at Iseki Point, just off the coast of the southernmost
Japanese island of
Yonaguni-Jima, some 15 years ago, looks set to get even hotter as news
emerges that the so-called
'Yonaguni Monument' is just one of a number of
underwater megalithic structures in a
'complex' stretching for
many hundreds of miles northeast of Taiwan.
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The sea-floor 'stalactite cavern' was discovered by Mr. Youhachirou Izumi, of the Yonaguni Diving Service, and has been extensively studied by Professor Masaaki Kimura and his students at the University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa. Professor Kimura himself has dived on the area more than 100 times over the past ten years, and his students have logged many hundreds of hours between them during that time. As can be seen from the image below showing a diver exploring inside the cavern, the 'stalagmite', which obviously formed on the ground over many centuries has joined with the 'stalactite', which formed over a similar period from the ceiling downwards. It is near the sea-floor by the 'No. 1 Monument' at Iseki Point, just off the coast of Yonaguni-jima. Stalactite caverns are formed 'only' on dry land, when weakly acidic rainwater or river water seeps into a limestone plate, which then dissolves and eventually drips through into the cavern. Slowly, and over many centuries, these limestone-rich drips begin to solidify into stalagmites (on the ground) and stalactites (on the ceiling). This is the only way that this 'stalactite cavern' could have been formed - and it had to have formed when the cavern was last above sea-level 10,000 years ago. If any further proof were needed that the area around Iseki Point was once very firmly, and dryly, above sea-level this must be it ...
As the debate rages over whether or not the structures at Iseki Point are 'natural' or 'man-made', it is important to remember that, in ancient times, peoples all over the world seem to have utilised 'natural rock formations' for a wide variety of usages. They seem to have been very practical peoples who were happy to modify what nature provided if it suited their purposes, and no better example of this could be given than the Great Sphinx on the Giza Plateau in Egypt. Carved out of 'living bedrock', the Great Sphinx is one of the few surviving structures of the archaic world - on dry land that is ... It is also important to remember that, while Boston University geologist, Dr Robert M. Schoch - who has made a number of dives at Iseki Point in 1997 and 1999 - did indeed state afterwards that in his opinion as a geologist the 'No.1 Monument' was "... primarily a natural structure ...", but it is very important to remember that he also went on to say that: "We should also consider the possibility that the Yonaguni Monument is fundamentally a natural structure that was utilized, enhanced, and modified by humans in ancient times." Perhaps the images below of two sets of steps - the one on the left is on the 'main terrace', and the one on the right is on the 'upper terrace' - were the features Dr Schoch was thinking of when he made that statement. Certainly anyone looking at them from the perspective of Professor Kimura's photographs should be in no doubt that 'natural erosive forces' could never have been 'solely' responsible for this obvious pair of constructed stone steps that were found only yards apart on the 'No.1 Monument' at Iseki Point ...
But of all the numerous structures found on the sea-floor around the island of Yonaguni-jima, there is one which seems to have 'enchanted' everyone who has had an opportunity to see it up close. This is the enigmatic carved structure that has been called 'the goddess rock', and it was discovered at a depth of about 50 feet northwest off San'ninu-dai. It is indeed a massive structure, and for the purpose of comparison we have placed an image of it next to an image of a more well-known, and similar-sized, structure with large 'paws' that all archæologists and geologists seem to agree was also 'carved out of the living bedrock' ...
Please left-click on any of the images on this page to directly access Professor Kimura's own 'Japanese language' website. To download Japanese fonts for a 30-day trial period please click here. Those wishing to use Professor Kimura's images should please request permission by sending him an email. If you do not want to use Japanese fonts, the email link on Professor Kimura's site renders as ”ü•ô characters near the top of each page on his website. Images of Professor Kimura's students exploring Yonaguni-jima are here
Marine Archæology Underwater Discoveries "Do undersea relics near Okinawa offer proof of a sophisticated civilization during the last ice age? Archeologists have long believed that civilization as we define it -- intelligent, tool-making, monument building, social humans -- began about 5,000 years ago. But submerged beneath the waves near the Japanese island of Yonaguni is evidence that may well overturn that long-held theory. A small but persuasive number of scholars and scientists have long thought that "advanced" societies may have existed as long as 10,000 years ago. Their theories, however well reasoned and defended, have been hamstrung by a lack of evidence. But recent discoveries of man-made artifacts on the Pacific seafloor may well prove to be the smoking gun that will propel this alternative view of civilization to prominence".
see the evidence with 'unique underwater footage' of
"Japan's Mysterious Pyramids" |
a selection of books from our Ancient Mysteries Bookshoppe
"Ancient Jomon of Japan"
"Prehistoric Japan:
"Jomon of Japan: The World's Oldest Pottery"
"In the Wake of Jomon: Stone Age Mariners and a Voyage Across
"An Archaeological History of Japan, 30,000 B.P. to A.D. 700"
"Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D.697"
"Sacred Texts and Buried Treasure:
"Shinto: The Sacred Art |
Following the great cataclysms and mass extinctions of 11,500 years ago, land that was once between the Chinese mainland
Okinawa and Japan was inundated, and only in the last few years has the attention of marine scientists been
drawn to the existence of 'undersea walls', 'stepped-pyramid-like structures', and some very
'unusual artifacts' that have been discovered underwater in the East China Sea ...
back to the interview with Professor Masaaki Kimura
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