Movie, tv, music, and literature have explored the legend of Atlantis, however what about the true sunken cities on the market? Over the centuries, the ocean has swallowed up quite a few cities due to local weather change or pure disasters. Under, a metaphorical deep dive into seven of the world’s most iconic sunken cities.

Thonis-Heracleion, Egypt

In 1933, an RAF pilot flew over Abu Qir Bay close to Alexandria and noticed one thing peculiar. Beneath the azure Mediterranean, he made out historical ruins.

It was solely years later that archaeologists excavated the ruins. Within the Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s, marine archaeologists found a complete metropolis, Thonis-Heracleion. As soon as a bustling port, Thonis-Heracleion now lies 5 metres under sea stage. The town dates again to the twelfth century BC.

It featured a community of complicated waterways, temples to Egyptian gods Amun-Gereb and Khonsu, storehouses, and different constructions. Archaeologists discovered steles, statues, amulets made from gold, bronze, and lead, in addition to lesser objects like bowls and instruments. Many of those artifacts had been well-preserved. Lately, archaeologists have discovered two shipwrecks and one other temple.

Ptolemaic cash discovered on the web site. Photograph: World Imaging

Most historians agree that Thonis-Heracleion sank into the ocean due to a succession of pure disasters. Earthquakes and tsunamis resulted in gradual soil liquefaction, inflicting constructions to sink into the ocean over time.

Dwarka, India

Dwarka, the god Krishna’s earthly dwelling, is without doubt one of the 4 holiest Hindu websites. Hindus imagine that it dates again 10,000 years. Legend says that after Krishna died, his beloved metropolis and its occupants sank into oblivion.

Hindu sources describe Dwarka’s unparalleled magnificence and extravagance: palaces of treasured metals, stones, and jewels. Other than its legendary statues, Dwarka held nice significance as a buying and selling port and a significant buying and selling gateway to the Arabian Sea.

Dwarka in Gujarat, India. Extra of the traditional metropolis is submerged. Photograph: Think about Rural/Shutterstock

Archaeologists started looking for the town within the mid-Twentieth century, but it wasn’t till the Eighties that they unearthed some promising ruins. Excavations revealed pillars, partitions, pottery, streets, and anchors.

Attainable causes for the town’s demise embrace an earthquake, tsunami, or local weather change.

Shicheng, China

In 1959, the Chinese language authorities determined to create a man-made lake as a part of a significant hydroelectric growth challenge. The downside? They needed to submerge an historical metropolis relationship again to 25 AD.

The choice was contentious. Critics decried the displacement of 300,000 residents from the world and the flooding of a priceless historic web site. Others have hailed the choice as a result of it created one of many world’s most opulent diving websites, the “Atlantis of the East”.

Intricate designs on the town partitions. Photograph: Nihaopaul

Shicheng, or Lion Metropolis, was one among Imperial China’s fundamental industrial centres. It peaked within the sixteenth century as a cultural, financial, and political hub. You’ll be able to see its energy and wealth within the grand, extremely detailed arches, partitions, gates, and statues depicting Chinese language mythology. The town is extraordinarily well-preserved, because of steady temperatures 40m underwater.

It was not till the twenty first century that China allowed divers to discover the town.

Atlit Yam, Israel

In Israel, 12m under sea stage, lies a 9,000-year-old Neolithic village. It’s the world’s oldest submerged web site and incorporates one of many oldest circumstances of tuberculosis on report.

Atlit Yam stone circle in Israel. Photograph: Hanay

Archaeologist Ehud Galili found the village within the Eighties. Researchers subsequently discovered 65 human stays in graves, homes, instruments, and 7 megaliths forming half a circle. In addition they discovered remnants of vegetation, animal bones, and burial items.

However it’s proof of bovine tuberculosis that is still probably the most startling discovery thus far. Scientists discovered the illness within the skeletal stays of a mom and child. This outbreak was most likely the results of animal domestication and husbandry practices.

In line with Italian researcher Maria Pareschi, a doable volcanic eruption in Italy and the ensuing tsunami may need been chargeable for the town’s destruction. Nevertheless, others imagine that rising sea ranges might be the wrongdoer.

Saeftinghe, Netherlands

The Westerschelde Estuary within the Netherlands is a big nature reserve and marshland, stuffed with plant and chook life. Lengthy earlier than twitchers and wildlife photographers flocked right here, this swampy space hosted a thriving village that met a murky finish within the sixteenth century.

Within the 1200s, the world was already water-logged and marshy, so monks from a close-by abbey drained the land to organize the soil for agriculture. They had been profitable and some centuries later, the village of Saeftinghe loved wealthy harvests.

Throughout the Eighty Years’ Struggle — when the Netherlands fought for independence from Spain — armies typically breached the village partitions, and the village suffered dangerous flooding. Essentially the most well-known and catastrophic of those was the All Saint’s Flood of 1570. Confronted with these disasters, the residents left.

In line with legend, the village’s dangerous luck was the results of a merman’s curse. The merman denounced the village for its cruelty and decadence, ensuing within the All Saint’s Flood.

Right this moment, it’s now known as the Drowned Land of Saeftinghe. It’s the largest tidal marshland within the Netherlands, encompassing 36 sq km of tidal land. Tons of of chook species breed right here, and Saeftinghe is now a nature reserve.

The village itself, which included a citadel, an abbey, a tollhouse, and odd homes, stays submerged within the moist mud someplace. None have turned up but, though archaeologists have discovered a number of small artifacts over time.

An aerial view of the Saeftinghe marshes. Photograph: Rudmer Zwerver/Shutterstock

Port Royal, Jamaica

The well-known city from “Pirates of the Caribbean”, the place Jack Sparrow induced havoc, was not completely fictional. Throughout the seventeenth century, Port Royal grew to become one of many Caribbean’s most vital cities, a middle of commerce and commerce. Sadly, it additionally gained a fame for immorality and piracy.

A portray of Port Royal. Portray: James Hakewill (1875)

In June 1692, it appeared just like the wrath of God had descended in town. A 7.5 magnitude earthquake shook the island and obliterated Port Royal, killing over 5,000 individuals. Those that survived reported that two-thirds of the town slid into the ocean. After the earthquake, a tsunami and a significant landslide from (paradoxically) Judgement Hill made issues worse.

Port Royal sank so rapidly into the ocean as a result of it sat on free sediment relatively than a basis of bedrock. These poor foundations prevented any plans to rebuild the town.

In 1981, excavations by the Texas A&M College discovered the well-preserved ruins. To be able to scuba dive right here, you want a particular allow. Whereas the previous settlement lies beneath the waves, a fishing village additionally known as Port Royal now sits on dry land close by. Organizations on the floor have been advocating for the unique city’s reconstruction and resurrection.

The misplaced villages of Ontario

The completion of Canada’s St Lawrence Seaway in 1959 granted entry to the Nice Lakes from the Atlantic. A significant achievement, however at the price of 10 submerged villages — Woodlands, Santa Cruz, Wales, Aultsville, Dickinson’s Touchdown, Maple Grove, Mille Roches, Moulinette, Farran’s Level, and Sheek’s Island. Collectively, they’re now referred to as the misplaced villages of Ontario.

The misplaced villages of Ontario, an aerial view. Photograph: Louis Helbig

Residents had been relocated however they felt ripped off, each financially and culturally. The residents had to surrender their household houses and transfer their companies. Relationship again to the 18th century, the historic villages are these days a mecca for divers. They discover previous buildings, houses, yards, some still-standing fences, previous warships, and boats.