In this day and age with technology, we’re still discovering a crazy amount of things from the past. And one of the most interesting things is how we still understand so little about the ocean and what lies benefit it.
Legends about underwater cities like Atlantis take the cake with mystery and wonder, but you might not realise there are so many mysterious ancient ruins and cities lurking below the surface.
Check out our guide to the most incredible underwater cities below you might not even know existed.
1. Yonaguni, Japan
In Japan, there’s a mysterious 10,000 year old underwater ruin in Okinawa. The depth of the water is around 20-100 feet and they feature many man made stone piecces like stairs, wedge tools called kusabi and other sandstone formations. Since the sea level was much lower then, than now, the reason it is underwater now is because so. It doesn’t appear to have fallen into the ocean, but more so, the tides rising naturally over thousands of years.
2. Dian Kingdom, China
In 2001, archaeologists found an underwater city at the bottom of Fuxian Lake in China. Originally, the residents had urban legends going around because they thought they could see a city underneath the water, and they were right! There is a large collection of buildings underneath the water including standing walls, streets, covering an area of 2.5 miles! It’s almost 2000 years old!
3. Olous, Greece
While Crete in Greece is large now, it was much larger in it’s past. The sea has caused erosion and part of the island to go into the sea. This particular one is called Olous, which had a previous count of over 40,000 people living there. Since it was built on a fragile shoreline, it went in easily. When low tide is awake, the city wall still rises to a visible level.
4. Edium, Germany
In the Wadden Sea near Northwest Germany, there is something called the North Frisian Islands. Originally, it was almost 1000 feet wider than it is now. It has been reported to be rebuilt many times because of the location. The original city is underwater and has been going under time and time again since the 1300’s. It was said that in the 1800’s, you could still see the city from low tide. One of the most famous floods in the area, All Saints’ Day Flood, drowned the city in 1436.
5. Phanagoria
Phanagoria sounds just as gloomy as it is. When the Greeks were at their peak, they were spread out in the Mediterranean sea. This also included being a part of what is now modern day Russia. One of these dozen cities near the borders of Romania and the Ukraina was Phanagoria. This city was invaded by Mithridates VI, who was a king in the first century B.C of this city. This lead to almost 3 decades of wars. When archaeologists found the underwater city in 2011, they came across an incredibly large tombstone that belonged to the wife of the Mithridates king. Since then, there has been a predication of thousands of tombstones underneath. Creepy, huh?
6. Llys Helig, Wales
There was once a massive palace in North Wales where it stretched onto Conwy Bay. When the nearing sea flooded the area, the palace of Welsh Prince Helig Ap Glanawg went underwater. This created a ride about 2 miles off of this coastline. It’s called llys Helig, which is Welsh for Helig Palace. While some say this rock is where the palace is, others day it’s just that – a rock. But surveys have concluded evidence to provide them with enough fact to claim that there are walls that are submerged, with a huge possibility that it dates to the 6th century.
