Is that this the real-life Atlantis?
A 90-foot “pyramid” submerged simply off the coast of Japan is popping heads — and will shake up every little thing we thought we knew about historic civilizations.
Sitting 82 ft under sea stage close to the Ryukyu Islands, the Yonaguni Monument has baffled scientists and divers because it was first found in 1986.
The large stone construction, full with angular steps and flat terraces, seems to be uncannily just like the ruins of a man-made temple — regardless of being over 10,000 years outdated.
That timeline, if confirmed correct, would date it hundreds of years sooner than Egypt’s pyramids or England’s Stonehenge — and probably make it the oldest identified construction ever constructed by people.
Supporters of the idea say the Yonaguni formation, nicknamed “Japan’s Atlantis,” could also be proof of a forgotten civilization that predates the rise of agriculture — an idea that, if true, would rewrite the timeline of human achievement.
However skeptics aren’t shopping for it.
The sunken stone sparked recent debate when writer Graham Hancock and archaeologist Flint Dibble clashed over the location on a latest episode of the Joe Rogan Expertise.
“I’ve seen quite a lot of loopy pure stuff and I see nothing right here that to me jogs my memory of human structure,” Dibble mentioned on the podcast in April 2024.
Hancock, a widely known proponent of misplaced historic civilizations, fired again: “To me, Flint, it’s gorgeous that you just see that as a completely pure factor, however I assume we’ve simply acquired very totally different eyes.”
Hancock pointed to what he says are clear indicators of clever design — together with what seems to be carved steps, megaliths, arches, and even a face-like engraving etched into stone.
“If this actually was constructed by a mysterious civilization greater than 10,000 years in the past, it will place Yonaguni in the identical league as Göbekli Tepe in Turkey — one of many oldest identified man-made constructions, dated to round 9500 BC,” he mentioned.
Japanese geologist Masaaki Kimura has additionally backed the idea, arguing the monument could also be a part of a misplaced continent often known as Lemuria.
He beforehand recommended the formation was constructed 2,000 to three,000 years in the past, when sea ranges have been considerably decrease.
Not everybody’s satisfied.
Boston College professor Robert Schoch known as the unusual shapes “primary geology and traditional stratigraphy for sandstones,” in a previous interview with Nationwide Geographic.
“[The sandstones] have a tendency to interrupt alongside planes and provide you with these very straight edges, notably in an space with numerous faults and tectonic exercise,” he defined.
So what’s the Yonaguni Monument actually — a misplaced metropolis swallowed by the ocean, or only a freak formation sculpted by Mom Nature?
For now, the talk rages on — one dive at a time.
