Marine Archæology
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New Underwater Discoveries
July - December 2008
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Over the past decade or so there have been numerous discoveries about the ancient world, many of which cannot be explained by the traditional views of prehistory as interpreted by mainstream archæologists. It would be impossible to keep abreast of them all, but many have major implications for our greater understanding of the cataclysmic events of antiquity which are remembered in the stories of Atlantis, the Deucalian flood, and the flood of Noah that have been passed down from generation to generation in both oral and written traditions since time immemorial ...
Of course, there are so many ancient tales of flooded kingdoms, cataclysmic inundations and sunken lands from more or less every corner of the world, that it is difficult to avoid the basic question of whether or not they all refer to the same cataclysm, or a series of cataclysms that happened over several millennia from around 15,000 BC to around 1,500 BC? Many scientists now believe that there were a series of rapid sea-level changes which marked the abrupt end of the last Ice Age, especially at the time of Plato's original date of 9,600 BC where he placed the supposed destruction of Atlantis.
The melting ice-sheets, it is believed by 'uniformitarians', were sufficient to account for these sea-level rises, but other scientists are looking at the possibility that supermassive quantities of water-ice were rudely delivered to the Earth by a giant comet which passed close to the Earth and the Moon at the end of the Pleistocene era - again at around 11,500 years ago. This 'event' was coeval with the world's major mountain ranges - such as the Alps, the Andes, and the Himalayas - attaining their present elevations, whilst many of the world's low-lying basin areas collapsed in an abrupt series of crustal deformations caused by the gravitational effects of a celestial body in such close proximity to Earth.
Many of the world's 'deluge traditions' refer to a celestial agency as having been the cause of the global floods, as well as the major rifting of Earth's crust in numerous locations, and possibly also causing a tilt in the Earth's rotational axis which brought about the seasons and the frigid polar regions as we now know them. The mass extinctions which marked the end of the Pleistocene and the start of the present Holocene era are also dated to between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago, as are the unconsolidated jumbles of now extinct land animals, marine lifeforms, and Pleistocene flora which comprise the many types of 'drift deposits' found jammed with extreme force into caves and rock fissures worldwide.
Many species from widely differing climatic zones and habitats lie side-by-side in bits and pieces evidencing the violent nature of their common demise, and careful analysis of these suggest the cause as being not the Ice Age of the uniformitarians, but the tumultuous swirling waters of mega-tsunami. Either way, the major question which cannot any longer be reasonably avoided by serious prehistorical researchers must be:
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What more evidence of ancient civilisations, and of the sea-faring peoples of world-wide
mythology, remains to be discovered beneath the waves on the
continental shelves all around our planet?"
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Marine Archæology News Archive | Astro-Archæology News Archive
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2008 News Headlines Archive
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"Amazing 3D images of centuries-old shipwrecks
August 26, 2008, Mail on Sunday, UK
Oldest find: HMS London, which sank in 1665, at the bottom of the Thames Estuary
The vessels, in the Thames Estuary, are just some of about 1,100 ships which went down in the whole of the river. The salvage by Wessex Archaeology and the Port of London Authority, which regulates the river, was both historical and practical. Jagged metal from the wrecks which stick out of the mud, silt, and gravel act as a 'can-opener' that can split apart vessels, especially large container ships which can skim within half a metre of the riverbed. The operation was filmed for the BBC and took four months, using a dozen divers who used 3D survey equipment to locate the wrecks in near-zero visibility." [Full Story]
"UK robot sub expects to find new species"
August 22, 2008, Cayman Net News, Cayman Islands
The Autosub6000, the world’s most advanced robot submarine The specially designed robot sub is only a mere 5.5 meters long, but can dive to a metal-crushing depth of 6,000 meters, half the length of Seven Mile Beach. The information reported from the depths of the vast trench, which has never before been fully explored, will then be carefully studied by a British scientific team aboard the new research ship, the James Cook. Scientists say the Cayman Trough, which extends from the Cayman Islands to Jamaica, was created eons ago when the massive Caribbean tectonic plates were pulled away from the American plates, probably due to ancient volcanic eruptions." [Full Story]
"Ancient wooden boat to be displayed in Hue"
August 21, 2008, VietNamNet Bridge, Viet Nam
The ancient wooden boat retrieved from the Huong River in May
The boat, which is 8.5m long and 0.5m wide, is believed to be used during the reign of King Gia Long more than 100 years ago, said researcher Ho Vinh. Researcher Ho Tan Phan claimed that it was built by the Cham ethnic group 700-800 years ago." [Full Story]
"Archaeology students spy on Key Largo shipwreck"
August 17, 2008, Miami Herald, USA For two weeks, archaeology students pieced together an underwater puzzle of weathered artifacts -- the metal bands of a paddle wheel, a portion of a smokestack, remnants of boiler plates.
A student archaeologist surveys the Menemon Sanford shipwreck in the Keys They mapped and measured these artifacts resting on the ocean's floor, trying to solve the mystery of the shipwrecked Menemon Sanford, a grand 237-foot side-paddle steamship that sank in 1862 during a secret Civil War mission. 'At first, all it looks like is a big scattered debris field', said Scott Tucker of St. Mary's College of Maryland
As they worked at 25 feet below the surface, the students also hoped to learn more about the little-known moment in history that involved Union troops, a coral reef and a possible act of sabotage."
[Full Miami Herald Story]
"A swim against tides to find Franklin's lost ships"
August 15, 2008, The National/Globe & Mail, Canada Dropped into the waters of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, automated buoys will record patterns of ice drift, generating data that will be fed into sophisticated mathematical models. Meanwhile, the nation's leading underwater archeologist will carry out an underwater survey, thanks to a sidescan sonar towed behind a Canadian Coast Guard vessel. This high-tech deployment will begin this month as Canadian researchers begin their efforts to find the remains of Sir John Franklin's catastrophic 1845 expedition, in a project that combines the historical romanticism associated with past explorers and the emerging importance of 21st-century polar science. Yet the project is happening only as a result of the persistence of the researchers involved. They were initially turned down for funding and say they had to stitch together a patchwork of initiatives to sustain their project. The project was initially floated in 2006 as an inter-disciplinary idea for the International Polar Year that combined a diverse bunch of Franklin enthusiasts, including a French documentary-maker, an Inuit researcher, polar scientists and archaeological anthropologists." [Full Story]
"2,500-Year-Old Greek Ship Raised off Sicilian Coast"
August 11, 2008, National Geographic News, USA At a length of nearly 70 feet (21 meters) and a width of 21 feet (6.5 meters), the 2,500-year-old craft is the largest recovered ship built in a manner first depicted in Homer's Iliad, which is believed to date back several centuries earlier.
2,500-Year-Old Greek Ship Raised off Sicilian Coast
The ship's outer shell was built first, and the inner framework was added later. The wooden planks of the hull were sewn together with ropes, with pitch and resin used as sealant to keep out water. Carlo Beltrame, professor of marine archaeology at the Università Ca' Foscari in Venice, said the boat, found near the town of Gela, is among the most important finds in the Mediterranean Sea. 'Greek sewn boats have been found in Italy, France, Spain, and Turkey. Gela's wreck is the most recent and the best preserved', Beltrame said." [Full Story]
"Ancient sunken ship near Varna savaged by fishing boats"
August 06, 2008, Sofia Echo, Bulgaria The news was delivered by Ilia Shtirkov, entrusted with heading the underwater expedition and unveiling the secrets of the 2000-year-old vessel, Bulgarian-language Monitor daily said on August 5 2008. 'We were so shocked when we saw what the trawls of fishing boats have done to the vessel. We could see the traces they have left', he was quoted as saying by Monitor. The small submarine navigated by Shtirkov made two trips to the vessel. He reported that all the vessel's ancient possessions were scattered on the bottom of the sea." [Full Story]
August 02, 2008, Zee News, India On Monday coastguards and experts from the Caltanissetta Culture Department salvaged the vessel using a boat equipped with a crane able to lift loads of up to 200 tonnes. Around 20 other support craft joined the operation, sounding their fog horns when the wreck finally emerged from the water. The 6.5 metres-wide ancient Greek vessel is said to be the biggest of its kind ever discovered. Earlier, four Greek vessels found off the coasts of Israel, Cyprus and France were at most 15 metres long. Interestingly, it took two decades before the ship was finally pulled out of the waters, though the bow of the ship, along with an astounding array of amphorae, drinking cups, oil lamps and woven baskets, were brought to the surface in 2003." [Full Story]
"Scientists unlock new secrets of Antikythera mechanism"
July 31, 2008, The Australian, Australia The claim comes from British, Greek and US researchers who have uncovered and interpreted previously unknown components of the Antikythera Mechanism, discovered in 1901 by Greek divers collecting sponges in the Mediterranean Sea. The mechanism is about the size of a wall clock, with bronze gearwheels, dials and inscriptions on both sides. It has long-puzzled experts, keen to determine where it was made and precisely what it did. 'We knew that this 2100-year-old ancient Greek mechanism calculated complex cycles of mathematical astronomy. It really surprised us to discover that it also showed the four-year cycle of ancient Greek games, including the Olympic Games', said team member Tony Freeth, a mathematician and filmmaker with Images First in London. Writing overnight in the journal Nature, Dr Freeth and his international colleagues debunked the previous belief that the intricate device was made in the Eastern Mediterranean, probably Rhodes. They did so by using 3D X-ray technology to read all the month names on a dial for the 19-year 'Metonic' calendar, a system that combined solar and lunar years." [Full Story]
"500 BC boat salvaged off Sicily"
July 29, 2008, ABC News, Australia Twenty ships were involved in the operation to salvage the ship, which experts say has remained in a good state of preservation since its discovery in 1988 thanks to the clay soil seabed. The wooden Greek boat, which measures 21 metres in length and was wrecked 800 metres off the port of Gela, will be desalinated in huge freshwater tanks before being sent to Britain to be restored by archaeologists in the southern port of Portsmouth." [Full Story]
"Voyage to the bottom of the deepest lake"
July 27, 2008, Russia Today, Russia
In too deep ... Mir submersible ready to dive at Lake Baikal
A preliminary dive to test the equipment under water was postponed on Saturday because of bad weather. Research work on the bottom of the lake is scheduled to begin on July 29. Scientists intend to go as deep as 1,700 metres to study the tectonics of Lake Baikal and to inspect archaeological artefacts." [Full Story]
"Israeli diver finds rare artifact"
July 21, 2008, CDNN, New Zealand The convex object is believed to have been fixed to the front of ancient ships as a talisman, its shape and painted circles connoting the pupil of a forward-looking and vigilant eye to protect mariners from misfortune. Kobi Sharvit, director of the Marine Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority, explained it is known from drawings on pottery vessels, coins and other historic sources from the 5th century BC that this model was very common on the bows of ships and was used to protect them from the evil eye, acting as a pair of eyes to aid navigation and warn of dangers. Variants of the decoration are still common on modern boats in Portugal, Greece and other coastal countries, and eye-shaped amulets and good luck charms are extremely common throughout the Mediterranean." [Full Story]
"Divers explore underwater prehistoric forest"
July 17, 2008, BlueFlipper, England
underwater exploration
The experts are now aiming to find their root system and establish the depth to which the trees are buried. Meanwhile, a campaign has been launched to help restore the reconstructed crannog, an ancient loch dwelling, which attracts thousands of visitors. The Scottish Trust for Underwater Archaeology will spend the next two weeks inspecting the drowned forest. They will be focusing on two trees - one dating from 4,270 BC to 4,040 BC and the other dating from 2,350 BC to 2,120 BC." [Full Story]
"How to protect the treasures of the deep"
July 16, 2008, New Scientist, UK Exactly what it has found and where remains a closely guarded secret, but some archaeologists speculate that one of the wrecks may be La Vierge Du Bon Port - possibly the richest French vessel ever lost at sea - which sank after being ambushed by English privateers off the coast of Guernsey in the Channel Islands on 9 July 1666. The recovery of such a shipwreck could bring big rewards for Odyssey - the cargo of La Vierge Du Bon Port is now estimated to be worth around £200 million. Many archaeologists, however, would like to see commercial treasure hunting stopped." [Full Story]
"Ancient Underwater Relic Found in Israel"
July 15, 2008, Ohmy News, South Korea
Relic of ancient mariner's talisman
Instead of treading on one of dozens of slippery giant stingrays which regularly invade Israeli coastal waters during July and August, David Shalom discovered the relic of a 2,500 year-old mariner's talisman which he presented to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). Kobi Sharvit, director of the IAA's Marine Unit identified the 20 centimeter wide marble stone which was flat on one side and convex on the other, as a talisman or ophtalmoi by its Greek name dating to the fifth or fourth century BCE. It represented the pupil of an eye affixed with a bronze nail by to the bow of a ship to protect ancient mariners from the evil spirits.
But lying hundreds of years on the ocean bed the salt water had washed away the eye painted on the stone and erased its engraved lines."
"Peter The Great Russian Battleship Discovered"
July 11, 2008, DiveMaster, UK A team including professional archeologists, divers, a film-producer and a cameraman located the 54-gun 'Portsmouth Battleship' at a 12-meter depth in the waters off Kotlin Island near Kronshtadt last week during final stages of a three-month mission as part of the 'Secrets of the Sunken Ships' project. The team was back on dry land on Tuesday. The lake's bottom may have powder kegs and other debris from ships on both sides, said Carrie Sowden, archaeological director for the historical society. The grant was among 32 announced Monday by the American Battlefield Protection Program of the National Park Service. 'We are currently lobbying for an immediate raising of the wrecks to serve both as a museum and as objects for research', said Andrei Lukoshkov, head of the research team, adding that the discovery is unique because the ship, which was designed by Peter the Great, disappeared with another ship, the 'London', on the way back to the port of Kronshtadt. However, pending further studies of the wrecks, the archaeologists are yet to establish if wreckage found near the 'Portsmouth' also belongs to the 'London'." [Full Story]
"Many of Britain's shipwrecks in danger of being lost forever, say English Heritage"
July 08, 2008, The Daily Telegraph, UK
A submarine archaeologist records the Salcombe Cannon site English Heritage has identified 45 wrecks on a new list of important cultural sites that are 'at risk', and in urgent need of protection and regeneration. Many have been damaged by unauthorised divers during clumsy explorations and fishermen as they dredge the seabeds, while others have been allowed to decay. A 17th century vessel which sank off Salcombe, Devon, carrying the largest collection of Islamic coins ever found in Britain, tops the list of wrecks most in need of attention.
According to English Heritage surveyors the site was 'severely vandalised' last year by a fishing boat that had strayed into the restricted area."
"Researchers to scan Lake Erie battlefield"
July 04, 2008, Chicago Tribune/AP, USA With the help of an $18,000 federal grant, the Great Lakes Historical Society will survey the lake floor this summer using sonar and magnetic wave technology. The U.S. victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Erie, fought in September 1813, helped the Americans secure control of the lake and made a hero of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. The lake's bottom may have powder kegs and other debris from ships on both sides, said Carrie Sowden, archaeological director for the historical society. The grant was among 32 announced Monday by the American Battlefield Protection Program of the National Park Service. The money will allow Sowden's group to document what's at the bottom and more sharply define the boundaries of the battle. 'Hopefully we can map out who was where and what happened', Sowden said." [Full Story]
"Jacobean 'Titanic' discovered by archaeologists"
July 01, 2008, The Daily Telegraph, UK Among the treasures they have retrieved is a statue of a merman whose eye sockets would have held precious stones. The 4.5ft wooden figure was one of a number of statues that would have adorned the stern of the vessel. At 130ft long, the oak-timbered ship would have been one of the largest of its kind on the seas when it sank in around 1620. Its identity is not known but it is likely to be British or Dutch. The wreck was found half a mile from the Sandbanks peninsula during recent dredging work of Poole harbour." [Full Story]
"Shipwreck Yields Coins, Barter Items"
July 01, 2008, NumisMaster News, USA Archaeologist Dieter Noli is associated with the excavation being undertaken by Namdeb Diamond Corporation, a joint venture of the government of Namibia and the De Beers diamond mining company from South Africa that discovered the wreck by accident. Noli was quoted in a May 1 Associated Press article as saying, 'Sending a ship toward Africa in that period [14th to 15th centuries], that was venture capital in the extreme.' Namdeb Diamond Corporation had been clearing and draining an area of seabed in search of diamonds when they unexpectedly uncovered what was left of the unidentified ship. At first the team found some partial sphere-shaped ingots that they were unable to identify. This was followed by finding cannons, which were much more easily recognized. Noli has been advising De Beers for years and anticipated a search along the coast might yield such a find. European ships were a rarity along the African coast at this time. A detailed account of what coins were present at the site wasn't immediately available, but the coins were described as being a hoard of issues of Spain and Portugal that suggest along with the cannon types and surviving astrolabe navigational equipment that the ship sunk during the late 14th or early 15th century." [Full Story]
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"Eden in the East: The Drowned Continent of Southeast Asia" "A book that completetly changes the established and conventional view of prehistory by relocating the Lost Eden - the world's 1st civilization - to SouthEast Asia. At the end of the Ice Age, SouthEast Asia formed a continent twice the size of India, which included Indochina, Malaysia, Indonesia and Borneo. The South China Sea, the Gulf of Thailand and the Java sea, which were all dry, formed the connecting parts of the continent. Geologically, this half sunken continent is the Shunda shelf or Sundaland. He produces evidence from ethnography, archaeology, oceanography, from creation stories, myths and sagas and from linguistics and DNA analysis, to argue that this founder civilization was destroyed by a catastrophic flood, caused by a rapid rise in the sea level at the end of the last ice age."
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October 2002
"Megalithic structures found underwater off the coast of
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June 2002 "Megalithic urban ruins discovered off the coast of Cuba"
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more underwater archæological discoveries for ...
2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997
Marine Archæology News Archive | Astro-Archæology News Archive
Terrestrial Archæology and Solar System History
2008 News Headlines Archive
- updated daily -
"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 the Yonaguni structures
in the NEW DVD of the
'History Channel' television programme
"Japan's Mysterious Pyramids"
Now On DVD
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