Legends tell us about the magical city of Kitezh, which has sunk under the water, about the mysterious civilization of Atlantis, which found itself at the bottom of the sea after a mysterious cataclysm. However, underwater cities exist in reality. They are looking for, unearthed, and various artifacts are taken out. Very often the history of these flooded settlements, their heyday and death, their searches and finds is more interesting than any legends.
The most ancient
Usually tsunamis and floods literally wash away settlements from the face of the earth. But in rare cases cities go under water gradually, and then seawater begins to work as a preservative. It protects buildings from weathering, erosion, and sudden temperature changes. Thanks to this rare natural phenomenon, the oldest cities in the world stand at the bottom of the sea like new.
The Indian city of Mahabalipuram is more than six thousand years old. Local residents told legends about his temples and palaces. They say it was so beautiful that the gods envied its inhabitants and sent huge waves to Mahabalipuram. The townspeople managed to escape and found a new settlement with the same name. And the old city went under water.
This story would have been considered a beautiful fairy tale if not for the next tsunami. In 2004, it blew away a huge layer of sand on the Coromandel coast. Columns, walls, statues emerged from under the sand. Buildings and pavements stretched into the distance and went under the water - about one and a half kilometers from the coast. Today, excavations are underway here. Scientists hope to find the beautiful six temples of Mahabalipuram, which, according to legend, caused the envy of the gods.
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Even more impressive is the age of the settlement of Atlit Yam, located at the bottom of the sea near the Israeli Haifa. It is about nine thousand years old. The ruins were discovered in 1984, and since then historians have been puzzling over why the Stone Age settlement was under water. Among the interesting finds here are seven stone pillars, arranged in a semicircle and somewhat reminiscent of the Stonehenge monoliths. And also the skeletons of a mother and a child - both, as studies have shown, died of tuberculosis.
Well, the most ancient city found today is a three by eight kilometers metropolis, found at the bottom of the Gulf of Cambay in India. Locals are sure that this is the legendary city of Dvaraka, built in ancient times by the god Krishna himself. The city stood for ten thousand years, and seven days after the death of the god Krishna it was swallowed up by the sea.
The streets, palaces and temples of Dvaraka are well preserved. The sculptures and ceramics raised from the bottom are no more than three and a half thousand years old. However, most archaeologists believe that the city was built much earlier - about nine and a half thousand years ago.
Most affordable
With a dive certificate in hand, you can swim on your own in many flooded cities. The easiest way is probably to consider Olus. A city founded around 3000 BC. e., was destroyed by an earthquake in the 2nd century AD. It is located in the northeast of Crete and was formerly part of the famous city of Knossos. According to legends, Daedalus himself, the legendary inventor of antiquity, made a wooden statue of the goddess in a local temple.
Olus. Photo: Igor Stavtsev / Ridus.
Olus is located quite shallow under water - its walls can be viewed from above without any equipment. But to see the mosaics and statues, you have to dive with scuba diving.
Baia is very popular with divers - a sunken "cottage village" of the Roman Empire, a complete analogue of the present Rublyovka and Lazurka. Bayi was an unusual city. There was no - in any case, archaeologists have not yet found them - no forum, no stadium, no central square, no public baths, no main temple. That is, all the infrastructure that existed for ordinary people in almost all cities of the Roman Empire.
The fact is that the development of Baja consisted entirely of luxury villas. They belonged to the emperors, their relatives, the richest oligarchs of the era and some VIP intellectuals like Seneca. Here, two hundred kilometers from Rome, people came to rest and unwind. The atmosphere was appropriate here. Rampant drunkenness, gambling, prostitutes of both sexes and all ages, complex orgies - Bailly was synonymous with debauchery and crime. It is no coincidence that it was here that Emperor Nero finally managed to send his tenacious mother, Agrippina, to the next world.
By 1500, the famous resort was completely abandoned. Strangely enough, volcanic activity saved him. During the earthquake, Bayi slipped into the water and was preserved there. Today it is one of the most spectacular sights around Naples.
It is not difficult to swim around the Egyptian underwater cities too. This is Heraklion and part of Alexandria. Heraklion, located at the confluence of the Nile into the Mediterranean Sea, in the VI-IV centuries BC. e. was the main port of Egypt. After the construction of Alexandria, it fell into disrepair, and in the VIII century, the tsunami was generally washed into the sea.
French archaeologist Frank Godiot discovered Heraklion in 2000. At first, scientists could not believe that this is the same legendary city founded by Hercules, where Paris hid the beautiful Helen from the pursuit of the jealous Menelaus. However, Gaudio's team raised about 14 thousand artifacts from the seabed - statues, jewelry, dishes, fragments of reliefs, anchors, inscriptions, including the word "Heraklion". In the center of the underwater city, the temple of Hercules was discovered - the same one that was described by the Greek historian Herodotus.
And the most spectacular proof of the authenticity of Heraklion was a two-meter stele made of black granite with the order of the pharaoh to levy a 10% tax on Greek artisans. At the end of the decree it was written that it was issued in "Heraklion-Tonis". Tonis was the second name of the Egyptian city.
Of interest to divers is the part of the city of Alexandria washed away to the bottom, where at a depth of 50 meters, archaeologists were able to find buildings that may be the legendary palace of Queen Cleopatra. The main proof of the authenticity of the palace is the granite statues of the goddess Isis and the sphinx found at the bottom. They traditionally decorated the palaces of the Ptolemies.
The most mysterious
There is a whole category of underwater cities about which it is generally not clear what they are. In 2001, a Canadian seabed exploration company off the west coast of Cuba received sonar images of regular granite structures. They were located at a depth of 600-700 meters, occupying an area of about 2 sq. km and looked like geometrically regular rectangles and circles.
According to the researchers, the buildings resembled the pyramids of the ancient Incas and a round square. But how could the grandiose pyramids be so deep? The answer to this question has not yet been received, many scientists are inclined to believe that the structures at the bottom are of natural origin, but journalists have already nicknamed this place the Cuban Atlantis.
No less mysterious is the story of the city of Samabah, which for a long time was considered a pure fiction, the Guatemalan analogue of our Kitezh. In 1996, underwater archaeologist Roberto Samayoa announced that he had found the legendary city at the bottom of Lake Atitlan. However, the scientist was not immediately believed. It was believed that he was trying to pass off the natural sediments at the bottom for ancient buildings.
Only after the expedition, equipped at the expense of the state, found perfectly preserved temple, altars and ceramics at the bottom of the lake, did the government of the country admit that the legendary city, which was the Mayan religious center, had indeed been found. Samabah was quickly promoted as a tourist attraction. Despite the muddy, muddy water, divers from all over the world regularly dive here.
The most mysterious complex of underwater structures today is considered the Monument, which Japanese diving instructor Kihachiro Aratake discovered at a depth of 27 meters near the island of Yonaguni, which belongs to the Okinawa archipelago. It was a rectangular sandstone structure with stairs, columns, a pool-like reservoir, gates and terraces.
The Japanese tabloids instantly wrote that the building of an ancient civilization had been found. However, almost the entire scientific community stated that the Monument is of natural origin, and its steps and terraces are caused by the impact of waves on the sandstone.
Only a few scientists were ready to consider the version of the artificial origin of the underwater Monument. Among them was the famous Graham Hancock, a historian who believes in the existence of ancient, so far unknown civilizations that possessed super-complex technologies.
However, if the Monument was created artificially, then it was built on land. He could fall to the bottom as a result of flooding. If it had been swept away by a tsunami, it would have crumbled. But there was no debris near him. This means that the water came gradually, covering the Monument. Geologists calculated that if this was so, then the Monument was built 10 to 16 thousand years ago.
People lived in Okinawa for 30 thousand years ago. But it was a simple civilization of "sea people" - fishermen and gatherers. No structures of those years remained in sight. Of course, the Okinawans did not have any opportunities to build a multi-meter stone complex comparable in size to Stonehenge.
Disputes about what lurks at the bottom of the sea near the island of Yonaguna and who built the mysterious Monument - nature, ancient people, or even aliens in general, have not ended today.
Victoria Nikiforova