ATLIT YAM - ISRAEL
OCEAN AWARENESS - UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGY
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HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF: Ocean levels are rising as the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps melt from being warmed due to climate change, causing extreme weather events. Today, islands are sinking as we write. That is the legacy that we are creating, and must do our utmost to undo, to prevent more lost civilizations.
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So many underwater complexes allege to be the oldest, but this one seems to have a definite claim to the title. Off the coast of Israel in the Mediterranean Sea, lies this Neolithic settlement, thought to be around 8,000 years old. Discovered in 1984, in 30-feet deep water, there are buildings, graves, even the odd skeleton. But the most amazing find must be the seven megaliths arranged in a circle, like an underwater Stonehenge. It is believed that an earthquake and subsequent tsunami resulted in the settlement becoming submerged. You can find out more by donning a wet suit and diving into Inner Space.
Atlit Yam is an ancient submerged Neolithic village off the coast of Atlit, Israel. It has been carbon-dated as to be between 8,900 and 8,300 years old. Among the features of the 10-acre site is a stone circle.
Underwater excavations have uncovered rectangular houses and a well. The site was covered by the eustatic rise of sea levels after the end of the Ice age. It is assumed that the contemporary coast-line was about 1 km (a half-mile) west of the present coast. Piles of fish ready for trade or storage have led scientists to conclude that the village was abandoned suddenly. An Italian study led by Maria Pareschi of the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Pisa indicates that a volcanic collapse of the eastern flank of Mount Etna 8,500 years ago would likely have caused a 10-storey (40 m or 130 ft) tsunami to engulf some Mediterranean coastal cities within hours. Some scientists point to the apparent abandonment of Atlit Yam around the same time as further evidence that indeed, such a tsunami did occur.
An excavation was mounted by the University of Haifa on October 1, 1987. A complete human burial, in an excellent state of preservation, was discovered under 10m of water on October 4 with the skeleton oriented in a flexed position and laid on her right side. Subsequent carbon dating of plant material recovered from the burial placed the age of the site at 8000 +-200 years.
Ocean literacy could be taught in schools, as part of an educational curriculum to raise awareness of just how important the subsea kingdom is for land dwellers.
What lost treasures might we discover as the mysteries of the deep unfold, armed with new underwater technology and an army of freshly educated researchers with an interest in the deep.
ATLANTIS - MEDITERRANEAN SEA ATLIT-YAM - ISRAEL
PAVLOPETRI - GREECE RUNGHOLT
- DENMARK YONAGUNI JIMA - JAPAN
REFERENCE
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