Japan’s Underwater Ruins
Off the coast of Japan’s Yonaguni island are mysterious rock formations that have led to intense debate among archaeologists and geologists. These large stone structures appear to be large, stepped monoliths. Some of the ruins have walls that are 33 feet tall and columns that rise to within 8 feet of the surface. There are square shapes and formations that look like figures, such as the turtle and the giant face have convinced some that the formations are man-made.
The argument that the structures are man-made comes from the presence of right angles as part of the structure and the twin megaliths that appear to have been placed there. Maasaki Kimura, who first discovered the site, says that he had found traces of animal drawings and people in the rocks and a symbol that he believes to be a character from the Kaida script.
Kimura claims that he can identify castles, roads, monuments, and even a stadium in the rock formations. If true this would be astonishing as some date the ruins back 10,000 years. Others present more conservative estimates of 2,000 to 3,000 years, which would still be an astonishing find and would lead to questions about who could have constructed the ruins. Kimura theorized that the ruins could be part of the mythical lost continent of Mu.
On the other side of the debate are geologists who claim that all of the formations are naturally occurring. Yonaguni is found in an earthquake prone region and earthquakes have been known to cause sandstone to fracture in shapes similar to those found at the ruins. They believe the roads are just channels in the rock and the vertical formations are just rocks that were horizontal but fell vertical when the rocks below them eroded. Others say it is unusual to see so many of these types of formations in such a small area but there is no definitive evidence that concludes the formations at Yonaguni are indeed man-made.