In the spring of 1985, in the coastal waters of the small Japanese island of Yonaguni (24o27 ′ N 122o59 ′ E), a local diving instructor Kihachiro Aratake stumbled upon a strange object. Not far from the coast, literally under the surface of the waves, he saw a huge stone monument stretching to the limits of visibility. Wide flat platforms, covered with ornaments of rectangles and rhombuses, turned into intricate terraces, running down in large steps. The edge of the object breaks off vertically down a wall to the very bottom to a depth of 27 meters, forming one of the walls of the trench that runs along the entire Monument.
Monument
Even if it turned out to be only a play of nature, Arataka would already be lucky - he found an object worthy of surprise even for 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.
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Alas … The scientific community has almost completely ignored these messages. 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.
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 …
Rocks on the island
Everything seems to speak for the fact that the Monument has a natural origin. This was Shoch's first conclusion.
It is characteristic that in several films - including one of the BBC films - this opinion of Shoch was cited as arguments against Hancock's theory. Unfortunately, the authors of these films "forgot" to mention that this story had a direct continuation …
Shoch perfectly understood that for several dives it is impossible to survey absolutely everything and it is quite possible to miss some important details. Therefore, he, along with Hancock's group, flew to Okinawa to meet with Kimura, whose arguments noticeably shaken his position. Moreover, these arguments were supported by photographs and diagrams of parts that Shoch simply did not see during his dives.
From the point of view of Massaki Kimura, the following facts speak in favor of the artificial origin of the Yonaguni megalith:
Firstly, the blocks separated from the rock during the formation of the Monument do not at all lie where they should have fallen under the influence of gravity and other natural forces. Instead, they often end up in one place, and sometimes they are not at all. If the structure were created by erosion, there would be quite a lot of debris on the bottom next to it, as is the case, say, on the modern shores of the island. But the Monument does not have such an abundance of debris at all.
Secondly, quite often, within a limited area of a monument, several elements of a completely different type turn out to be very close to each other, for example, a face with sharp edges, round holes two meters deep, a stepped descent, an ideally straight narrow trench. If the reason was only in natural erosion, then it would be logical to expect that it will manifest itself equally in the entire piece of rock. The fact that there are such different forms side by side is a strong argument for artificial origin.
Thirdly, in some upper sections, steeply descending to the south, there are deep symmetrical trenches, the formation of which cannot be explained at all by known natural processes.
Fourthly, on the southern side of the monument there are steps that rise at regular intervals from a depth of 27 meters to the very top located at a depth of 6 meters.
And fifthly, the western part of the monument is closed by a pronounced "wall", the presence of which is difficult to explain by the action of natural processes, since it is composed of limestone blocks, which are not typical for the Yonaguni zone.
Upper Terrace of the Monument
Ring road
Sun stone (now fell from the platform)
A very remarkable and obviously artificial element is two colossal megaliths at the western edge of the Monument. Their appearance and position evokes associations with the famous Stonehenge. These megaliths are sometimes called "twin pillars". Looking at their strict geometric shape, it is difficult to doubt their artificial origin. Moreover, Kimura's studies lead to the same conclusion: the "twins" are not made of the same material as the monument itself, but of limestone. But where did they get them from then? Who and why dragged these blocks here, reaching, according to some estimates, two hundred tons each!?.
And another question: why are they here?.. Their position seems simply meaningless. Masaaki Kimura considers the "twins" to be the symbolic gateway to the Monument. But why such efforts are needed, which requires moving such blocks, for the sake of some symbolism?.. The usual logic suggests a completely different option: the "twins" seem to have simply fallen from the top of the Monument …
Twins
“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 …
While there was a dispute between supporters and opponents of the artificial origin of the Monument, searches in the coastal waters of Yonaguni continued. It soon became clear that this is not the only contender for the title of the ruins of an ancient civilization.
200 meters southeast of the Monument, there is an object that was named "Stadium". It really looks like a kind of stadium, representing a clean area about 80 meters in size surrounded by stepped structures that resemble spectator stands. Although the "stands" themselves are very similar to purely natural formations, they also contain cut grooves and "paths".
Stadium
In the end, an object was found, which removed all questions. From a distance it is a bit like the wheelhouse of a large submarine. But as we approach this "wheelhouse", it turns into … a 7-meter human head !!! She is sometimes referred to as a "moai-like figure" with an allusion to the statues of the distant Easter Island. And if desired, a certain similarity can be found, albeit very separate.
In principle, the "head" itself could well be a purely natural formation. But what is absolutely indisputable is that the depressions that form the mouth and eyes have signs, if not of artificial origin, then of obvious refinement. In addition, the remains of a bas-relief are visible on the side of the head, in which some catch a separate resemblance to the Indian headdress made of feathers. Honestly, the "similarity" is so-so … Unless to include unlimited imagination …
If someone else could have any doubts about the presence of evidence of an ancient civilization in the coastal waters of Yonaguni, then with the discovery of this statue, skeptics find themselves in a very unenviable position …
Head
However, the problem is not at all limited to adding another one to the list of ancient civilizations. The fact is that although the megaliths were found below sea level, they should have been created clearly on land. Then, in order to determine the time of their creation, you must first answer the question of how the structures ended up in the sea: very quickly during the disaster, how, for example, during an earthquake or volcanic eruption, or slowly during gradual geological or climatic changes. As, say, this is happening now, when as a result of global warming, the ice of the polar caps and mountain glaciers are melting, the water of which flows into the sea, causing a rise in the level of the World Ocean. Some of the small island states even fear for their continued existence …
In favor of the option of rapidly changing the position of the Yonaguni objects is the fact that the area is located in a very active tectonic zone. This is not surprising since the island is located directly on the so-called fault line; here the Pacific and Eurasian plates collide, supported in addition by the Philippine plate, which wedges between them from the south.
But if the area near Yonaguni had sunk under the water in the course of some catastrophe, then a miracle should have happened so that the Monument not only retained its horizontal position on the seabed, but also dispensed with any signs of destruction inevitable with such an impressive earthquake. which is accompanied by a change in heights by several tens of meters. In such catastrophic events, the Monument had to not only be covered with cracks, but almost inevitably split into pieces. And certainly, at least small fragments of it should have remained next to him. But there is nothing like this at all! And the same is the case with other underwater objects near the island. All indications are that the water covered the structures gradually as a result of the slow rise in the level of the World Ocean. However, the slow sinking of the Yonaguni objects (given their size and depth) means that they could have been created only when the sea level was several tens of meters below modern. That is, no later than 8-10 thousand years ago !!! This is what shocks historians!..
But the arguments of the geologists are unforgiving. The facts that directly point to such a distant time are also inexorable. For example, in the immediate vicinity of the Yonaguni monument, the diver Chouhachiro Izumi discovered a "stalactite cave" on the seabed. But in nature, stalactite caves are formed only on land, when weakly acidic rain or river water seeps into the limestone layer. Water dissolves limestone salts and, encountering a cavity or cave on its way down, drips from its ceiling to the floor. Slowly, over the centuries, these salt-rich droplets create stalactites on the ceiling and stalagmites below. This is the only way the "stalactite cave" found at Yonaguni could have formed.
Radioisotope dating (no matter how you relate to the degree of its reliability), carried out for this cave, indicated that the process of formation of stalactite and stalagmite in it was completed no later than 10 thousand years ago! waters during changes in the level of the World Ocean. Although for the time of the creation of the underwater objects of Yonaguni, many researchers call much earlier dates. Up to 16 thousand years ago!..
Who created the Monument at such a distant time? If a whole civilization existed here, then there must have been something else that would allow us to open the veil of secrecy of the builders of gigantic structures. There are indeed other finds.
Researchers, for example, lifted from the bottom several stone exhibits with simple symbols such as dashes, crosses and hooks carved on them. Similar symbols are found on stones that are still under water. The most interesting exhibit is a stone with a relief in the shape of a four-legged animal resembling a bull. And at the bottom around Yonaguni, several pieces of stone tools - primitive scrapers - were also found.
On the “upper terrace” of the Monument, the researchers also found traces of wedges, which the ancient people used to split the rocks - wedges driven into the recesses were poured with water, the wood swelled from the water and split the monolith. The same traces were found on separate blocks in other places of coastal waters and on the island itself …
The simplest symbols, primitive tools and the same primitive technologies … Somehow it all does not combine with the strict grace of the straight lines and geometric shapes of the Monument. And even less this is combined with its size and the scale of work that was required to create not only the Monument, but also other underwater objects. The megalithic structures of Yonaguni correspond more to a very highly developed rather than primitive civilization. However, the main expert, Dr. Kimura, agrees with this, who believes that the creation of the Monument required a high level of technology and the use of machines. How to be?..
In fact, 2 periods in the history of the monument can be clearly traced here. At the first stage - in a very long time ago, in the period somewhere from 10 to 16 thousand years ago, the Monument was created by a highly developed civilization, which possessed rather sophisticated technologies that made it possible to easily handle multi-ton blocks. At the second stage, after many thousands of years, this civilization was replaced by another, primitive one, which did not find (and could not find) anything better than to dig a certain number of holes in the heritage it inherited and use it only as a convenient pier and, perhaps a burial ground, until the Monument was finally closed with water …
At the 2001 conference, there were reports that a giant stepped structure similar to the Yonaguni Monument had been found off Chatan Island in Okinawa; mysterious underwater "labyrinths" are located near Kerama Island; and near the island of Aguni, cylindrical depressions were found, similar to those in the "triangular basin" of the Monument. On the other side of Yonaguni, in the strait between Taiwan and China, underwater structures resembling walls and roads were discovered …
At the moment, these listed objects, unfortunately, lack scientific data. Their research has not really begun yet. But one can hope that it will nevertheless take place without such long interruptions as was the case with the Yonaguni Monument, which remains to this day the most exciting find in the region.
However, there is something interesting on the island itself …
One of the ancient Japanese legends, which even Okinawan schoolchildren know, tells of a fisherman named Urashima-Taro, who lived on the seashore in time immemorial. One day Urashima went on a boat to get fish. But on that day he was clearly unlucky, and instead of a fish, the same turtle came across three times on the hook, which the fisherman regretted every time he released back into the sea. Without catching anything, he already directed his boat to the shore, but then, out of nowhere, a large ship appeared with a messenger from Otohime, the daughter of the Lord of the Seas, who invited Urashima to visit her. Urashima boarded a ship, which suddenly plunged into the depths of the sea and sailed to such a magnificent palace, the beauty of which cannot be found on earth …
Otohime gave a sumptuous feast in honor of the young fisherman. And he liked it so much in the underwater palace that three years passed like one day. But at last he yearned for home, and at parting Otohime presented him with a chest, which Urashima had to open in case of an insurmountable disaster.
When the fisherman returned to his village, he found that everything around had changed a lot, since during this time not three years had passed on earth, but three hundred years. Grieved, Urashima opened the casket, instantly aged, turned into a crane and flew away. And Otohime turned into a turtle and climbed ashore to meet Urashima …
There is an interesting detail in the legend about the fisherman, which we have briefly retold. When Urashima returned and went to look at the ruins of his house, he saw that all that remained were the slabs in the courtyard and stone bowls for washing hands. Slabs and stone bowls, as it turns out, have a very real embodiment - they are found throughout the island. But some of the bowls are so large that you can not only rinse your hands, but also wash yourself whole. Not a jacuzzi, but still … Local residents, however, prefer to grow flowers in them … The true initial purpose of the bowls and information about those who made them has long been covered by the darkness of time. And only their presence in one of the most ancient legends gives at least one hint: plates and bowls already existed in those immemorial times when this legend was composed …
We are grateful to the film crew of "Underwater World" and personally to Andrey Makarevich for the materials provided.
ANDREY SKLYAROV