sirbiotech
12-20-2001, 01:35 AM
friday, 7 december, 2001, 10:01 gmt
'lost city' found beneath cuban waters
a team of explorers working off the western coast of cuba say they
have discovered what they think are the ruins of a submerged city
built thousands of years ago.
researchers from a canadian company used sophisticated sonar
equipment to find and film stone structures more than 2,000 feet (650
metres) below the sea's surface.
they say they still do not understand the exact nature of their
discovery, and plan to start a thorough analysis of the site - off
the tip of the guanahacabibes peninsula - in january.
advanced digital communications is one of four firms working in a
joint venture with president fidel castro's government to explore
cuban waters, which hold hundreds of treasure-laden ships from the
spanish colonial era.
robot scanner
the explorers first spotted the underwater city last year, when
scanning equipment started to produce images of symmetrically
organized stone structures reminiscent of an urban development.
in july, the researchers returned to the site with an explorative
robot device capable of highly advanced underwater filming work.
the images the robot brought back confirmed the presence of huge,
smooth blocks with the appearance of cut granite.
some of the blocks were built in pyramid shapes, others were
circular, researchers said.
they believe these formations could have been built more than 6,000
years ago, a date which precedes the great pyramids of egypt by 1,500
years.
"it's a really wonderful structure which really looks like it could
have been a large urban centre," adc explorer paulina zelitsky told
the reuters news agency.
"however, it would be totally irresponsible to say what it was before
we have evidence."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1697000/1697038
.stm
'lost city' found beneath cuban waters
a team of explorers working off the western coast of cuba say they
have discovered what they think are the ruins of a submerged city
built thousands of years ago.
researchers from a canadian company used sophisticated sonar
equipment to find and film stone structures more than 2,000 feet (650
metres) below the sea's surface.
they say they still do not understand the exact nature of their
discovery, and plan to start a thorough analysis of the site - off
the tip of the guanahacabibes peninsula - in january.
advanced digital communications is one of four firms working in a
joint venture with president fidel castro's government to explore
cuban waters, which hold hundreds of treasure-laden ships from the
spanish colonial era.
robot scanner
the explorers first spotted the underwater city last year, when
scanning equipment started to produce images of symmetrically
organized stone structures reminiscent of an urban development.
in july, the researchers returned to the site with an explorative
robot device capable of highly advanced underwater filming work.
the images the robot brought back confirmed the presence of huge,
smooth blocks with the appearance of cut granite.
some of the blocks were built in pyramid shapes, others were
circular, researchers said.
they believe these formations could have been built more than 6,000
years ago, a date which precedes the great pyramids of egypt by 1,500
years.
"it's a really wonderful structure which really looks like it could
have been a large urban centre," adc explorer paulina zelitsky told
the reuters news agency.
"however, it would be totally irresponsible to say what it was before
we have evidence."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1697000/1697038
.stm