sirbiotech@...
10-19-2001, 03:38 AM
the original apparently is no longer available on msnbc.com but
luckily rense.com has it backed up!
link to article:
http://www.rense.com/general10/pyramidsroads.htm
article:
'pyramids, roads and buildings'
found at 2200' in caribbean?
5-16-1
havana, cuba - barely touched since the colonial era of piracy and
shipwrecks, sea bottoms around cuba are an underwater fantasy world
promising treasure-laden sunken ships, insights into times gone by -
and maybe even a lost city.
once a hub for shipments of gold, silver and other plunder from new
world to old, the caribbean island,s waters likely hide billions of
dollars, worth of treasure from hundreds of ships that sank after
encountering reefs, storms or pirates.
but that is not all that tempts foreign companies, which, in a joint
venture with president fidel castro,s government, are beginning an
unprecedented, systematic search of one of the world,s most-
fascinating, least-explored undersea regions.
as well as gold-laden spanish galleons, important secrets and
insights into regional history, global environment trends, ancient
geography and marine science also lurk in the depths.
"it,s a new frontier, soviet-born canadian ocean engineer paulina
zelitsky enthused as she pored over video images of hitherto-unseen
seafloor taken by underwater robots.
"we are the first people ever to see the bottom of cuban waters over
50 meters, said zelitsky, president of canada-based advanced digital
communications. "it,s so exciting. we are discovering the influence
of currents on global climate, volcanoes, the history of formation of
caribbean islands, numerous historic wrecks and even possibly a
sunken city built in the pre-classic period and populated by an
advanced civilization similar to the early teotihuacan culture of
yucatan.
adc, the heavyweight among four foreign exploration firms here, was
testing its deep-water equipment off havana bay late last year when
its ship, ulises, found the century-old wreck of the battleship maine
while surveying the seabed.
the ship blew up mysteriously in 1898, killing 260 american sailors
and touching off the spanish-american war.
adc has also been exploring a string of underwater volcanoes about
5,000 feet (1,500 meters) deep off cuba,s western tip, where millions
of years ago a strip of land once joined the island to mexico,s
yucatan peninsula.
most intriguingly, researchers using sonar equipment have discovered,
at a depth of about 2,200 feet (700-800 meters), a huge land plateau
with clear images of what appears to be urban development partly
covered by sand. from above, the shapes resemble pyramids, roads and
buildings.
adc is excited but reluctant to speculate until a joint investigation
with the cuban academy of sciences and the national geographic
society takes place early this summer.
"it is stunning. what we see in our high-resolution sonar images are
limitless, rolling, white sand plains and, in the middle of this
beautiful white sand, there are clear manmade large-size
architectural designs. it looks like when you fly over an urban
development in a plane and you see highways, tunnels and buildings,
zelitsky said.
"we don,t know what it is, and we don,t have the videotaped evidence
of this yet, but we do not believe that nature is capable of
producing planned symmetrical architecture, unless it is a miracle,
she added in an interview at her office at tarara, along the coast
east of havana.
adc,s deep-water equipment includes a satellite-integrated ocean
bottom positioning system, high-precision side-scan double-frequency
sonar, and remotely operated submarine robots. they plan to add two
submersibles to take people down.
on the treasure trail, it has already located 700 target sites where
historic wrecks are thought to lie, and it recently videotaped and
identified three of them as large 17th-century ships with valuable
cargo.
the bigger picture
bringing up treasure will finance the project. but zelitsky
said, "our agenda is much broader. we are very anxious about global
environmental changes. archaeology is providing us with the means to
conduct broader scientific ocean exploration.
the other three foreign companies " one canadian, one french and one
south african " operate in shallower waters than adc. under contracts
with cuban state partner geomar, all the firms have concessions to
explore in different swaths of sea and would share profits with the
government.
american companies are prohibited from participating by the long-
running u.s. embargo on the communist-run island.
the rush of interest in cuba,s seas is due in part to the castro
government,s recognition that it does not have the money or
technology to carry out systematic exploration by itself, though it
does have excellent divers.
"as you know, we have financing problems. this is a very expensive
activity. they give us technology and financing. we provide
historical and ocean expertise, said eddy fernandez, vice president
of geomar.
"these projects are very important in helping us rescue things from
history, which contribute to our national patrimony, he added at a
ceremony launching a mini-submarine used by the other canadian
company, toronto-based visa gold.
visa gold, which operates in cuba out of havana,s marina hemingway,
says it has already brought up some 7,000 artifacts including
jewelry, diamonds and pistols from a brigantine called palemon that
sank in 1839 off cuba,s northern coast.
the new target in havana bay is the atocha y san jose, which sank in
january 1642 while trying to reach port after fleeing storms at sea.
like the other firms, visa gold combines sea exploration with
research, checking archives in spain and elsewhere to establish
roughly where boats went down.
"this is a very historic point, the mouth of havana bay, the most
strategic point in the new world at that time, company president paul
frustaglio said at the launch ceremony.
why cuba?
"cuba is right in the center, the logical route for all the boats." -
cesar garcia del pino naval historian
havana,s large natural harbor and cuba,s location as a stopping point
between europe and mainland latin america made the island a natural
trade hub after the arrival of 16th-century spanish conquistadors.
"cuba is right in the center, the logical route for all the boats,
local naval historian cesar garcia del pino said.
since boats congregated around cuba, it was also logical many of them
should sink here thanks to piracy, poor maps and navigation
equipment, and regular storms in the caribbean.
"i know of about 1,600 boats from the 16th to the 20th century that
went down here. those that came from europe were full of merchandise
and those leaving from america were carrying the products of the
region " gold, silver and so on, del pino said. "i consider the
historical value greater than the commercial value because a sunken
boat is a time capsule.
adc is drawing on local talent, with a mainly cuban staff of 50,
including 14 on land and 36 on its research vessel "ulises. most of
its lower-tech equipment is also cuban " including the ship, which is
rented from the government.
while the canadian company is proud of doing good science, it also
promises to make a lot of money and would like to plow some wealth
back for the general good.
"they say there is $3 trillion of treasure lying on the bottom of the
caribbean, and a good part of that is near to cuba because a good
part of the wealth of the world came through cuba, adc representative
paul weinzweig said.
"but you have to bear in mind that it is ill-gotten wealth. a lot of
it is the result of rape and pillage of new world colonies. ... we
want to cover our costs, provide a return to shareholders, and we
also want to use a part of our personal share of returns to benefit
people and humanity.
http://www.rense.com/general10/pyramidsroads.htm
luckily rense.com has it backed up!
link to article:
http://www.rense.com/general10/pyramidsroads.htm
article:
'pyramids, roads and buildings'
found at 2200' in caribbean?
5-16-1
havana, cuba - barely touched since the colonial era of piracy and
shipwrecks, sea bottoms around cuba are an underwater fantasy world
promising treasure-laden sunken ships, insights into times gone by -
and maybe even a lost city.
once a hub for shipments of gold, silver and other plunder from new
world to old, the caribbean island,s waters likely hide billions of
dollars, worth of treasure from hundreds of ships that sank after
encountering reefs, storms or pirates.
but that is not all that tempts foreign companies, which, in a joint
venture with president fidel castro,s government, are beginning an
unprecedented, systematic search of one of the world,s most-
fascinating, least-explored undersea regions.
as well as gold-laden spanish galleons, important secrets and
insights into regional history, global environment trends, ancient
geography and marine science also lurk in the depths.
"it,s a new frontier, soviet-born canadian ocean engineer paulina
zelitsky enthused as she pored over video images of hitherto-unseen
seafloor taken by underwater robots.
"we are the first people ever to see the bottom of cuban waters over
50 meters, said zelitsky, president of canada-based advanced digital
communications. "it,s so exciting. we are discovering the influence
of currents on global climate, volcanoes, the history of formation of
caribbean islands, numerous historic wrecks and even possibly a
sunken city built in the pre-classic period and populated by an
advanced civilization similar to the early teotihuacan culture of
yucatan.
adc, the heavyweight among four foreign exploration firms here, was
testing its deep-water equipment off havana bay late last year when
its ship, ulises, found the century-old wreck of the battleship maine
while surveying the seabed.
the ship blew up mysteriously in 1898, killing 260 american sailors
and touching off the spanish-american war.
adc has also been exploring a string of underwater volcanoes about
5,000 feet (1,500 meters) deep off cuba,s western tip, where millions
of years ago a strip of land once joined the island to mexico,s
yucatan peninsula.
most intriguingly, researchers using sonar equipment have discovered,
at a depth of about 2,200 feet (700-800 meters), a huge land plateau
with clear images of what appears to be urban development partly
covered by sand. from above, the shapes resemble pyramids, roads and
buildings.
adc is excited but reluctant to speculate until a joint investigation
with the cuban academy of sciences and the national geographic
society takes place early this summer.
"it is stunning. what we see in our high-resolution sonar images are
limitless, rolling, white sand plains and, in the middle of this
beautiful white sand, there are clear manmade large-size
architectural designs. it looks like when you fly over an urban
development in a plane and you see highways, tunnels and buildings,
zelitsky said.
"we don,t know what it is, and we don,t have the videotaped evidence
of this yet, but we do not believe that nature is capable of
producing planned symmetrical architecture, unless it is a miracle,
she added in an interview at her office at tarara, along the coast
east of havana.
adc,s deep-water equipment includes a satellite-integrated ocean
bottom positioning system, high-precision side-scan double-frequency
sonar, and remotely operated submarine robots. they plan to add two
submersibles to take people down.
on the treasure trail, it has already located 700 target sites where
historic wrecks are thought to lie, and it recently videotaped and
identified three of them as large 17th-century ships with valuable
cargo.
the bigger picture
bringing up treasure will finance the project. but zelitsky
said, "our agenda is much broader. we are very anxious about global
environmental changes. archaeology is providing us with the means to
conduct broader scientific ocean exploration.
the other three foreign companies " one canadian, one french and one
south african " operate in shallower waters than adc. under contracts
with cuban state partner geomar, all the firms have concessions to
explore in different swaths of sea and would share profits with the
government.
american companies are prohibited from participating by the long-
running u.s. embargo on the communist-run island.
the rush of interest in cuba,s seas is due in part to the castro
government,s recognition that it does not have the money or
technology to carry out systematic exploration by itself, though it
does have excellent divers.
"as you know, we have financing problems. this is a very expensive
activity. they give us technology and financing. we provide
historical and ocean expertise, said eddy fernandez, vice president
of geomar.
"these projects are very important in helping us rescue things from
history, which contribute to our national patrimony, he added at a
ceremony launching a mini-submarine used by the other canadian
company, toronto-based visa gold.
visa gold, which operates in cuba out of havana,s marina hemingway,
says it has already brought up some 7,000 artifacts including
jewelry, diamonds and pistols from a brigantine called palemon that
sank in 1839 off cuba,s northern coast.
the new target in havana bay is the atocha y san jose, which sank in
january 1642 while trying to reach port after fleeing storms at sea.
like the other firms, visa gold combines sea exploration with
research, checking archives in spain and elsewhere to establish
roughly where boats went down.
"this is a very historic point, the mouth of havana bay, the most
strategic point in the new world at that time, company president paul
frustaglio said at the launch ceremony.
why cuba?
"cuba is right in the center, the logical route for all the boats." -
cesar garcia del pino naval historian
havana,s large natural harbor and cuba,s location as a stopping point
between europe and mainland latin america made the island a natural
trade hub after the arrival of 16th-century spanish conquistadors.
"cuba is right in the center, the logical route for all the boats,
local naval historian cesar garcia del pino said.
since boats congregated around cuba, it was also logical many of them
should sink here thanks to piracy, poor maps and navigation
equipment, and regular storms in the caribbean.
"i know of about 1,600 boats from the 16th to the 20th century that
went down here. those that came from europe were full of merchandise
and those leaving from america were carrying the products of the
region " gold, silver and so on, del pino said. "i consider the
historical value greater than the commercial value because a sunken
boat is a time capsule.
adc is drawing on local talent, with a mainly cuban staff of 50,
including 14 on land and 36 on its research vessel "ulises. most of
its lower-tech equipment is also cuban " including the ship, which is
rented from the government.
while the canadian company is proud of doing good science, it also
promises to make a lot of money and would like to plow some wealth
back for the general good.
"they say there is $3 trillion of treasure lying on the bottom of the
caribbean, and a good part of that is near to cuba because a good
part of the wealth of the world came through cuba, adc representative
paul weinzweig said.
"but you have to bear in mind that it is ill-gotten wealth. a lot of
it is the result of rape and pillage of new world colonies. ... we
want to cover our costs, provide a return to shareholders, and we
also want to use a part of our personal share of returns to benefit
people and humanity.
http://www.rense.com/general10/pyramidsroads.htm