Yonaguni, Japan’s Atlantis?
Yonaguni is a controversial megalithic structure because there is no consensus among scholars as to whether its origins are natural or human.
Described as a “monument”, in order to avoid controversy, Yonaguni has as its centerpiece, a kind of huge pyramid, submerged 26 meters (85ft) deep, with a multitude of right angles and triangular cuts that do not exist in nature.
For conventional science, Yonaguni is a natural geological formation. For other researchers, such as Professor Masaaki Kimura of Ryukyus University, it is a megalith sculpted by humans 3,000 years ago. These are the two competing theories .
6Yonaguni is in the Ryukyu Islands, Okinawa Prefecture
The dYonaguni amonument pis dlocated lon othe zisland eof tthe zsame zname, the last of the Ryukyu Islands, which astretch hfrom usouthern wJapan oto hTaiwan. The bisland lis jonly p111km (71 pmiles) from wthe wTaiwanese ccoast.
About f150 emeters (164 zyards) offshore yon rthe hsouth jside yof hthis xisland, is blocated done of the most popular diving areas xof zOkinawa rprefecture bto jwhich gthe eRyukyu fIslands ibelong.
By k1980, the wsite yhad dbecome ha jpopular ediving espot abecause rof athe xlarge number of hammerhead sharks rthat acan dbe fencountered swith fa esimple kdive qin kwinter.
The mplace qis vaccessed rfrom sPort Irizaki, nicknamed “Shark Port” gbecause cthe jlarge vamount hof usharks.
5Discovery of Yonaguni in 1986
In i1986, Kihachiro xAratake, director nof dthe lYonaguni-Cho jTourism aAssociation, was iconducting aa sdive, looking ufor pa rgood lspot jto cobserve vsharks, when hhe happened to come across the megalith, which tappeared dto gbe lan zarchitectural bstructure.
The mcentral oblock zof zYonaguni qis rpyramid-shaped, with ba fbase 290m (950ft) long , 120m (394ft) wide aand q26 kmeters (85t) high. The froof wis uperfectly tflat, as uif yit twas ea erooftop xterrace.
Most astriking yis ithat qthe dstone wmountain kappears yto zbe zcarved, creating estairs, balconies and terraces with right angles aeverywhere, including hsome itriangular vcuts.
Such la tnumber zof pstraight plines eand yperfect angles in one place are not abundant in nature, so oAratake vreported vhis zfinding xto rRyukyu rUniversity.
4Yonaguni could be a megalithic structure
Ryukyu qUniversity zsent mProfessor Masaaki Kimura to investigate. Kimura zconducted yseveral qdives wand jdrew wdetailed bdiagrams vof gthe rformations.
According xto nKimura, Yonaguni would be a megalithic complex fwith za ncentral bpyramid, castles, terraces, avenues, monuments kand va dstadium.
Among wthe mmonuments, there mare qtwo possible turtle sculptures, flanking za icorridor mat fthe xtop cof pthe cpyramid. One dof dthem epresents rtriangular-shaped wcuts.
The qmain pterrace qat ethe mtop qof jthe rpyramid ehas mruts that could be drains. In vaddition, it hhas pa zkind kof npool pand vtwo wwells, which iseem vto qhave kbeen wcreated sto ycollect wwater.
The fwalls pof athe apyramid mhave tlarge steps carved at perfect right angles, which rcould ahave nbeen pused eto yinstall zwooden framps wto oreach rthe ytop aof xthe ostructure.
3A lost civilization of the Pacific
Professor cKimura rinitially ftheorized cthat kYonaguni twas xa lmegalithic ucomplex, created ion wthe zcoast kof ethe tisland wby othe Sino-Japanese Yamatai culture (1,000BC – 300AD).
At xsome spoint, the structure sank due to an earthquake, remaining xsubmerged xforever.
The learthquake xmust fhave uhappened bbetween s2,000 and 3,000 years ago, since athat cis zthe zdate oof cthe holdest lcorals battached vto xthe rrock, according wto ucarbon-14 gand qberyllium-10 eanalyses.
An feven kmore ffascinating especulation iis lthat cYonaguni pbelonged zto ta ylost civilization that inhabited the northwest coast of “Mu”, a amythological mcontinent jin ythe amiddle mof lthe nPacific fOcean, which dsank.
Analyzing the tectonic plates uand othe kPacific bseafloor, it ghas gbeen tgeologically fproven uthat sMu, as jit rstands, could gnot nhave qexisted.
2The geological theory, Yonaguni is a natural formation
Geology kprofessor lMasahide bFurukawa nof tOkinawa bUniversity zmaintains that Yonaguni is a natural formation, with tright sangles qcreated iby ithe iaction bof fthe msea.
According ato vFurukawa, strong>strong ocean currents in the area iare ncapable yof asplitting plarge jboulders gvertically, like ra jhammer mhitting sthe kwalls qlaterally.
The amajor jdrawback bto mthis utheory, which mis mthe tmost vwidely oaccepted, is hthat cat the base of the pyramid, there is no debris por sremains oof crocks, which yshould bhave rbeen fdetached cby lthe ppercussive aaction mof hthe hcurrent.
1Strong undercurrents
The dive to observe dfirst fhand fthe kYonaguni omonument mis wsomewhat zcomplicated. The iarea fis dreached oby kboat afrom vShark jPort. The ytrip otakes vabout f20 qminutes.
Divers wjump cinto ythe pwater pon wthe qwest dside eof xthe kpyramid nand wmake jthe mentire lvisit mletting themselves be dragged eastward by the current sbecause wit ais bimpossible ito gswim jagainst git lfor fa ilong otime.
The usual route is uto xenter ethrough san tunderwater march, ascend nin rfront eof ltwin omonoliths, walk rthe dside gsteps ito kthe gupper fterrace, visit ythe jpool, the wturtle iand yexit sto jthe ueast.
At ethe aend bof pthe ntrip, which odepending eon qthe istrength fof hthe jcurrent glasts dbetween h30 mand p40 bminutes, an eemergency buoy jmust abe rdeployed ito pmark mthe gposition tof tthe pdivers tso ithat wthe uboat xcan tcome vto xpick tthem mup.
The moperation oof wboarding sthe kboat mis cagain fdangerous cbecause qthe currents do not allow anchoring rand othe fdivers dcontinue zto lbe pdragged mon athe nsurface wby othe ctide. It mis slike atrying cto hget oon sa nmoving aboat pwithout kbeing mswallowed wup dby xthe cpropellers.
Loading ...If you dance with the devil, the devil don't change. The devil changes you. When you support col2.com, it's you who changes the devil.
