Ancient quadrangular pyramids of various sizes are found not only in Egypt or South America, they are also known in Burma, China and Korea. But perhaps the most interesting discovery of this kind is the pyramid and the amazing temple complex found on the seabed near the small island of Yonaguni in the westernmost part of the Japanese archipelago. The photographs were taken by renowned writer and explorer Santa Faye, who spent many years searching for Lemuria
The structural elements seemed to have a very definite architectural scheme, somewhat reminiscent of the stepped pyramids of Ancient Sumer. Even if it were only a play of nature, Arataka would already be lucky - he found an object worthy of surprise even to the most picky tourist. But the abundance of regular geometric shapes made us think about the possibility of their man-made nature, and Aratake decided to report his find to specialists. Japanese newspapers were full of sensational headlines.
Alas … The scientific community has almost completely ignored these messages. The main reason for this is quite simple: according to the most rough estimates, this complex could rise above the water surface at least 10 thousand years ago, when the water level in the World Ocean was 40 meters lower than the current one. Approximately the same antiquity is evidenced by the dating of the remains of vegetation found nearby, characteristic of dry soil, and not of the seabed. Historians have no information about the culture capable of creating such a structure here. Therefore, they preferred to declare the hypothesis of the artificial origin of the underwater monument of Yonaguni as mere speculation and write it off as a bizarre play of nature. And rather quickly, discussion of the find became the property of only esoteric publications, ignored by official science.
Only Masaaki Kimura, a professor at Ryukyu University, was serious about the discovery. And in this Monument was very lucky, since Kimura is a recognized specialist in the field of marine geology and seismology. He has been exploring the underwater surroundings of Yonaguni for over 10 years, having completed over a hundred dives during this time and became the main expert on the object. As a result of his research, Professor Kimura decided to go against the vast majority of historians and risk his reputation, defending the artificial origin of the Monument.
But, as often happens in such cases, his opinion for a long time remained a voice crying in the wilderness …
It is not known how long the "conspiracy of silence" around the discovery of Aratake would have lasted if Graham Hancock, a convinced supporter of the hypothesis of the existence of a highly developed civilization in ancient times and the author of a number of books on this topic, had not learned about it.
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In September 1997, he arrived at Yonaguni with a film crew. He managed to interest and attract Robert Shoch, a professor at Boston University, a geologist, known primarily for his conclusion that the real age of the famous Egyptian Sphinx is much older than official Egyptology believes. And Hancock hoped that Shoch with his authority would confirm the artificial nature of Aratake's find. But it was not there…
On his first trip in 1997, Shoch did not find clear evidence of the man-made nature of the site. Quite the opposite …
The fact is that the Monument consists of sandstone and sedimentary rocks, the outcrops of which are still visible on the coast of the island. Under the influence of sea waves, rains and winds, they are destroyed in such a way that forms like steps and terraces appear. Nature is not capable of such "quirks", but here, in addition, the very structure of the deposits leads to the appearance of almost perfectly straight cracks. Moreover, at angles of 90 and 60 degrees to each other, which contributes to the formation of strict geometric shapes: rectangular steps, triangles and rhombuses.
Everything seems to speak for the fact that the Monument has a natural origin. This was the first conclusion of Shoch, although he took into account that for several dives it is impossible to survey absolutely everything and it is quite possible to miss some important details. So Shoch decided to meet with Kimura.
The arguments of Kimura, who was more familiar with the details of the object, greatly shaken Shoch's opinion. Moreover, the arguments were supported by photographs of details that Shoch simply did not see during his dives.
For all the similarities between the rocks on the island and the Monument, there are very strong differences between them. In a limited area of the Monument, elements of completely different types appear very close to each other. For example: sharp-edged face, round holes, stepped slope, perfectly straight narrow trench. If the reason was only natural erosion, then it would be logical to expect the same shapes throughout the entire piece of rock. The fact that such different elements are located side by side is a strong argument in favor of their artificial origin.
Moreover, very close by, literally a few tens of meters on the same rock of the same rock, is a completely different landscape. The fact that it was created by nature is beyond doubt. But even with the naked eye you can see its sharp difference from the treated part of the rock.
The next argument is that the blocks, separated from the rock, do not lie where they should fall under the influence of gravity. Instead, they either end up collected in one place, or are absent altogether. As on the “ring road”, where the wreckage is 6 meters or more from the foot of the Monument. If the object was created by erosion, then at the bottom next to it there would be many debris, as on the modern shores of the island. And this is not here …
And finally, there are quite deep symmetrical trenches and other elements on the Monument, the formation of which cannot be explained at all by known natural processes.
“After meeting with Professor Kimura,” Shoch later wrote, “I cannot completely rule out the possibility that the Yonaguni monument was at least partially processed and altered by human hands. Professor Kimura pointed out a number of important elements that I did not see during my first, short visit …”.
The meeting of two professional geologists was literally epoch-making for the Yonaguni monument. If earlier Shoch adhered to the version of the natural nature of the object, then Kimura insisted on its completely artificial origin. As a result of taking into account all the available facts, both specialists agreed on a kind of "compromise", together abandoning extreme points of view. They came to the conclusion that the Monument belongs to the so-called "terra-formations", that is, the original natural "preparation" was later changed and modified by human hands. Such "terra formations" are not something completely unusual, but were quite common in the ancient world …
The materials of the 1997 expedition were included in the documentary film "The Search for a Lost Civilization", shown on British television and accompanying the release of the next book by Hancock, "The Mirror of Heaven". The film and the book received a wide response. The information blockade around the Yonaguni megalith was broken and the scientific community was forced to react.
Thirteen years after the opening of the Monument, in July 1998, a decision was finally made on its interdisciplinary scientific research. Led by a diver and certified archaeologist Michael Arbutnot, a team of experts attempted to uncover the mystery of the object. The group included geologists, underwater archaeologists, experienced divers, and even anthropologists with linguists. Shoch was also invited to the expedition, who got the opportunity to satisfy his desire to re-inspect the Monument and to make sure that his "compromise" approach with Kimura was fruitful.
Group members spent 3 weeks diving and exploring. And, perhaps, the opinion of its leader speaks very eloquently about the results of the expedition.
At first, Arbuthnot was skeptical of Kimura's theory of the artificiality of the Monument, but in the course of research he was forced to abandon his skepticism.
“I am convinced that the Yonaguni object is handled by human hands,” he concluded. “We investigated the natural geology around the find, but there are no such uniform external forms, and therefore the likelihood of human processing of the monument is very high. There are also many details that exclude the version of the formation of the object in a natural way."
Kimura's report at a conference in Japan in 2001 became a kind of intermediate result of the research that continued after the expedition. The general conclusion that the Yonaguni megalith is a trace of an ancient civilization was supported by the majority of Japanese scientists.
It would seem that the question of the nature of the Monument is closed. However, the scientific community is very inert, and even conservative in matters of ancient history. And despite the conclusions of the conference, despite the multitude of eyewitness accounts, including geologists, writers, journalists and just amateur divers, the fact of the artificiality of the Yonaguni Monument is still either simply ignored or tried to refute in the world scientific literature. And as often happens, the most active "deniers" themselves have never seen him with their own eyes …
For comparison, the ruins of the city of Machu Picchu: