Naked Science Forum
On the Lighter Side => That CAN'T be true! => Topic started by: Airthumbs on 15/12/2011 03:55:43
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Does is not stand to reason that if you find sea shells in you back garden and desserts........... never mind! [8)]
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Pseudo science?
You mean going on a treasure hunt? Where have you hidden those Doubloons?
It would seem like there would be several issues that would enter into underwater archeology.
- Treasure hunting, and hunting for lost shipwrecks. Is this a for-profit search, or searching for lost pieces of history?
- Recovery of lost antiquities. There have been shipwrecks from every era from the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians up to the present. Some of the artifacts recovered from the sea have much less wear & tear than those recovered from land. There are notes that the Black Sea has a deep anoxic layer, and may hold a treasure-trove of well-preserved antiquities.
- It is believed that sometime near the beginning of the Holocene, the sea levels rose about 100 feet, perhaps even more in some places. While men have always endured small floods, this would have caused flooding on a truly Biblical scale. Some happening fast, some slowly, but overall an unrelenting increase in sea depth. A number of coastal communities would have been inundated at this time.
These communities inundated at the beginning of the Holocene can be a very unique part of archeology. Some cities are well preserved, and in a state that wouldn't have been built over the top of, thus giving a clear view of stone-age architecture.
However, perhaps this is what you are thinking of pseudo-science, as there are some underwater artifacts that are difficult to attribute man-made origins, vs natural origins. Undoubtedly some rock structures that are considered man-made... are just plain shallow rocks.
Which rock shelf is the lost city of Atlantis?
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Thank you for the response I failed to consider the points you put across. I just find it very difficult to search the internet for underwater archaeology without coming up with controversial sites that either could be evidence of lost sites of human habitation or not. After raising this question with the Naked Ocean Scientists I still feel it is difficult to find good information about habitation sites discovered as archaeological fact in our oceans. I heard what sounded like a magical description of swimming through an underwater archway of ancient origin and I was enthralled. I still can't find a picture of it or any information.
I have been following this subject closely for the past twenty years. Obviously not as closely as I thought!! There have been so many claims of underwater cities it gets very confusing!
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Ahhh
The search for Atlantis.
Most theories indicate that sea levels rose about 100 feet at the beginning of the Holocene.
So, one should expect to find lost cities literally EVERYWHERE along the coasts and harbors. And, perhaps having being disturbed very little by humans over the millennia. However, the underwater environment is also quite harsh, especially near the shores, and everything other than stone could literally have been washed away.
12,000+ years ago is also quite early with human construction techniques, although oddly a few thousand years after that, there was a boom of stone construction around the globe. and in many cases apparently independently made.
Anyway, I would have to believe that many of the "underwater cities" are legit. However, some people seem to get quite excited about various rock shelves that could well be natural. Perhaps the trick is to look at the size and shape of the pieces. So, if a particular formation is made up entirely of monolithic bedrock. then it probably isn't human made.