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This article reports on the ruins of an ancient city, discovered under the sea off the coast of Japan.

A City Submerged in the Ocean — Ruins Around Yonaguni Island in Japan

At the southern tip of Yonaguni Island in the Ryukyu Islands, approximately half a century ago, divers found ruins of man-made constructions in the ocean. The site included a square-shaped structure covered with coral, a giant platform with edges and corners, as well as streets, stairways, and an arched building. One could say that the ruins resembled an altar in the ancient city. It covered about 200 metres from west to east, and about 140 metres from north to south. Its highest point reached about 26 metres.

In 1986, local divers named this underwater city "Diving Area of Undersea Ruins." It drew a lot of attention when the news media reported it. Soon after its discovery, the University of Ryukyu formed an "Undersea Archaeological Exploration Team" (UAET), and embarked on an eight-year research project. Under the sea southeast of Shihuan Island and in the surrounding areas, more ruins were discovered, including a construction made of stone, a cave-like structure surrounded by pillars, a statue of a human head, an arch, and geometric turtle statues. The most surprising discovery was the "Hieroglyph," which was engraved into a stone wall and left behind by an ancient civilization assumed to be a highly advanced human culture.

If one looks from above, there are streets and farmland surrounding the ruins. The largest ruin was 100 metres in length, and 25 metres in height, and was built with giant rocks. According to the UAET of the University of Ryukyu, a computer-generated model showed that the place might have been an altar of a temple, where the ancients gathered and held worship ceremonies. There were two half-circle pillar caves north of the temple. Archeologists believe them to be a place for bathing prior to a ceremony. There was an arched gate east of the temple where two giant rocks overlapped each other. The top showed rectangular man-made holes in the rocks. Presumably, the rocks were shaped by machines and used as the city's cornerstones.

In addition, under the ocean, around the well-known area of "Lishenyan" off southeast Yonaguni Island, a statue of a human head several feet tall was uncovered. Facial features could still be clearly discerned. Later, near the giant human head statue, groups of hieroglyphs were found. This indicates the builders of the undersea ruins were a highly advanced civilization.

Masaaki Kimura is a professor of geology at the University of Ryukyu. He stated during a September 1999 interview that one could clearly see that they were man-made constructions. There were streets, right angle stairs with round holes in the rock which seemed designed for stone pillar insertion, etc. The discovery of the human head statue and the hieroglyphs, were especially convincing that the undersea ruins at south Yonaguni Island originated from a prehistoric civilization.

Incredible Undersea Pyramid

In addition to the findings south of Yonaguni Island, important discoveries were made to the west of the island. In 1990, divers found a giant pyramid built of rocks. This pyramid was 183 metres in width, and 27.43 metres in height. It was built of rectangular rocks, and had 5 levels. There were also several small constructions nearby resembling the giant pyramid. Such mini-pyramids consisted of stone layers, with a width of about 10 metres and a height of about 2 metres.

Geologists from the University of Ryukyu involved in this study concluded that this was a man-made construction, and not of natural origin. Otherwise, there should be a pile of stones from erosion, and yet not a single stone was found. Moreover, there were street-like remnants surrounding the pyramid, which also indicate that this was not a natural product. Geologist divers from Boston University in the United States found that the giant stairs were made of a series of one-metre high rock layers, which resembled a stair-like pyramid. Although one could hypothesize that such a structure was formed by rocks broken by water erosion, such sharp stair sections have never been found that resulted from a natural process. Archaeologists at the University of London believe that the builders had to be at least on the level of ancient civilizations such as Mesopotamia and Indian River.

According to a geology professor at Tokyo University, the area must have sunk around 10,000 years ago, that is, during the last Ice Age. However, based on modern scientific understanding, human beings were still primitives, hunting animals for food then. It is unlikely they would have been able to build such pyramid-like structures. Some people believe them to be the doings of some unknown culture. One may wonder if such an advanced and prosperous civilization really once existed. Do these undersea ruins exist only in Japan? The answer is No.