A sunken ‘pyramid’ near Taiwan may rewrite everything we thought we knew about the ancient world.
Sitting just 82 feet below sea level near the Ryukyu Islands of Japan, a mysterious object called the Yonaguni monument continues to stump and astonish researchers since its discovery in 1986.
This giant structure with sharp-angled steps stands roughly 90 feet tall and appears to be made entirely of stone, leading many to believe it was man-made.
However, tests of the stone show it to be over 10,000 years old, meaning that if a civilization built this pyramid by hand, it would have taken place before this region sank under water – more than 12,000 years ago.
That would place it further back in history than most other ancient structures by several thousand years, including the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge.
Currently, scientists believe that the ability for ancient humans to construct large structures like temples and pyramids evolved alongside the development of agriculture 12,000 years ago.
If an advanced society was already building giant step pyramids long before this time, however, it could change the history books forever and reveal another lost tribe of humans – just like the myths of Atlantis.
In fact, Yonaguni monument is often called ‘Japan’s Atlantis,’ but skeptics continue to poke holes in the theory that this structure was actually built by human hands.
Yonaguni monument was discovered by divers nearly 40 years ago, roughly 60 miles to the east of Taiwan
Although skeptics say it’s a natural rock formation, Yonaguni monument has a pyramid shape with shockingly straight steps that appear carved
The site recently gained widespread attention after scientists sparred over its origins on the Joe Rogen Experience podcast.
Graham Hancock, an author focused on lost civilizations and archaeologist Flint Dibble debated over the pictures of Yonaguni monument, with Dibble refusing to concede that any of the structures found by divers could have been made by humans.
‘I’ve seen a lot of crazy natural stuff and I see nothing here that to me reminds me of human architecture,’ Dibble said while a guest on Rogan’s podcast last April.
‘To me, Flint, it’s stunning that you see that as a totally natural thing, but I guess we’ve just got very different eyes,’ Hancock countered.
Hancock added that photographs from dives at the site clearly show human-made arches, megaliths, steps, terraces, and what seem to be a carved rock ‘face.’
If Yonaguni monument really was built by a mysterious civilization over 10,000 years ago, it would add it to the growing list of puzzling structures that should have been impossible to construct that long ago.
Built around the same time period, Yonaguni monument could potentially join the man-made ancient structure of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey as evidence of lost civilizations.
This archaeological site in Upper Mesopotamia is believed to have been inhabited from around 9500 BC to at least 8000 BCE, during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Era.
That’s over 5,000 years before the Egyptian pyramids were built and roughly 6,000 before Stonehenge.
The sandstone slabs of Yonaguni monument have convinced many researchers into ancient civilizations that an advanced society built a pyramid before the end of the last Ice Age
Göbekli Tepe in Turkey was constructed around the same time as researchers believe Yonaguni monument would have been built in Asia
Meanwhile, another ancient structure in Indonesia could predate Göbekli Tepe and Japan’s Atlantis by a staggering amount of time.
Gunung Padang, first re-discovered by Dutch explorers in 1890, is said to be the world’s oldest pyramid.
Studies show that the 98-foot-deep ‘megalith’ submerged within a hill of lava rock dates back more than 16,000 years.
In 2023, scientists said the structure promises to upend the conventional wisdom on just how ‘primitive’ hunter-gather societies actually were – revealing the true ‘engineering capabilities of ancient civilizations.’
According to Dr Masaaki Kimura, the case surrounding Japan’s Atlantis is very much still open for debate. Kimura is the scientist who tested the sandstone’s age, finding that the rocks date back more than 10,000 years.
At this point in history, the structure would have still been on dry land, before the melting of massive ice sheets caused global sea levels to rise at the end of the last Ice Age.
Studies show that at the peak of the Ice Age, roughly 20,000 years ago, sea levels were approximately 400 feet lower than they are today.
In 1999, however, Dr Robert Schoch of Boston University tried to throw cold water on the theory of an Atlantis in the Pacific, arguing that geology could prove the pyramid and surrounding “city” was a natural rock formation.
Gunung Padang, referred to as the world’s oldest pyramid, is believed to date back more than 16,000 years to the peak of the last Ice Age
Schoch noted in his report that Yonaguni monument shares a number of features with other nearby geological formations.
Moreover, it sits in an earthquake-prone region, 62 miles east of Taiwan, suggesting that the fractures and flat faces making up the ‘steps’ are just normal features of sandstone rocks breaking and splitting.
‘When viewing photographs of the Yonaguni Monument, many people immediately have the impression, due to the regularity of the stone faces of the steps and the sharp angles made by the rock, that this is an artificial structure,’ Dr Schoch admitted in his paper.
Schoch said that the rocks have also been coated with layers of marine life over the centuries, covering up much of the natural sandstone features and giving Yonaguni monument the appearance of being much more uniform than it really is.
‘I think it should be considered a primarily natural structure until more evidence is found to the contrary. However, by no means do I feel that this is an absolutely closed case,’ he added.
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