Submerged Structure Stumps Israeli Archaeologists
Submerged Structure Stumps Israeli Archaeologists
By TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press
TIBERIAS, Israel May 23, 2013 (AP)
The massive circular structure appears to be an archaeologists dream: a recently discovered antiquity that could reveal secrets of ancient life in the Middle East and is just waiting to be excavated.
It's thousands of years old — a conical, manmade behemoth weighing hundreds of tons, practically begging to be explored.
The problem is — it's at the bottom of the biblical Sea of Galilee. For now, at least, Israeli researchers are left stranded on dry land, wondering what finds lurk below.
The monumental structure, made of boulders and stones with a diameter of 70 meters (230 feet), emerged from a routine sonar scan in 2003. Now archaeologists are trying to raise money to allow them access to the submerged stones.
"It's very enigmatic, it's very interesting, but the bottom line is we don't know when it's from, we don't know what it's connected to, we don't know its function," said Dani Nadel, an archaeologist at the University of Haifa who is one of several researchers studying the discovery. "We only know it is there, it is huge and it is unusual."
More:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/submerged-structure-stumps-israeli-archaeologists-19239037#.UZ3E7eoo4Z5
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Ancient Sea of Galilee find indicates ‘complex, well-organized society’
By Scott Sutherland | Geekquinox – Wed, Apr 10, 2013.
A team of Israeli scientists has discovered an ancient structure under the Sea of Galilee, possibly up to 4,000 years old, and the purpose of this monument is currently unknown.
The structure is best described as a cairn — a man-made pile of stones meant as a marker, either for a place of note, a location of religious significance, or sometimes as a burial monument to someone important. Cairns can range in size from a small pile to a large artificial hill.
This particular find is huge — a roughly circular pile of stones, measuring around 70 metres across and about 10 metres high, and containing an estimated 60,000 tons of volcanic rock. The scientists note that these rocks, some up to 1 metre across, had to be moved to their present location from at least a few hundred metres away — not to mention carried up the incline of the cairn to build its 10-metre height — so this was no easy undertaking.
Furthermore, the structure is located more than 200 metres below the surface of the water. It's possible that it was built underwater, or it may have been constructed on land, and then a combination of rising sea levels in the Sea of Galilee and the ground sinking due to tectonic activity caused it to become submerged to its current level.
More:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/geekquinox/ancient-sea-galilee-indicates-complex-well-organized-society-182151312.html
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Ancient undersea stone structure was made by man; what was it?
By Deborah Netburn
April 12, 2013, 1:26 p.m.
Archaeologists in Israel have discovered a mysterious stone monument weighing 60,000 tons and rising 32 feet above the bottom of the Sea of Galilee.
Scientists don't know who built the structure, or why, but in a recent paper in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology the researchers shared a few hypotheses before concluding that further study is needed.
The mystery rock pile was first discovered in 2003 during a sonar survey of the bottom of the southwestern part of the sea. The sonar revealed a pile of boulders arranged in a circular shape, lying on the sea floor.
The structure, which cannot be seen from land, is massive -- about twice the diameter of Stonehenge.
Further study by a team of scuba-diving investigators revealed that the boulders are made of basalt and have no decorative chiseling or cutting. Individual boulders are as big as 3 feet across, and the lower half of the structure is covered by sand.
More:
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-mystery-monument-found-on-the-sea-floor-20130412,0,2957527.story?track=rss
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