Hidden city found beneath Alexandria

[Owlscrying]

July 24

Scientists have discovered hidden underwater traces of a city that existed at Alexandria at least seven centuries before Alexander the Great arrived, findings hinted at in Homer's Odyssey and that could shed light on the ancient world.

Alexandria was founded in Egypt on the shores of the Mediterranean in 332 B.C. to immortalize Alexander the Great. The city was renowned for its library, once the largest in the world, as well as its lighthouse at the island of Pharos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Alexandria was known to have developed from a settlement known as Rhakotis, or Râ-Kedet, vaguely alluded to as a modest fishing village of little significance by some historians. Seven rod-shaped samples of dirt gathered from the seafloor of Alexandria's harbor now suggest there may have been a flourishing urban center there as far back as 1000 B.C.

Coastal geoarchaeologist Jean-Daniel Stanley of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and his colleagues used vibrating hollow tubes to gently extract three-inch-wide rods of sediment 6 to 18 feet long (2 to 5.5 meters) from up to 20 feet (6.5 meters) underwater.

Ceramic shards, high levels of lead that was likely used in construction, building stones imported from elsewhere in Egypt and organic material were detected in the sediment. These all suggest the presence of a significant settlement well before Alexander the Great came.

go

[glorybebe]

July 24

Scientists have discovered hidden underwater traces of a city that existed at Alexandria at least seven centuries before Alexander the Great arrived, findings hinted at in Homer's Odyssey and that could shed light on the ancient world.

Alexandria was founded in Egypt on the shores of the Mediterranean in 332 B.C. to immortalize Alexander the Great. The city was renowned for its library, once the largest in the world, as well as its lighthouse at the island of Pharos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Alexandria was known to have developed from a settlement known as Rhakotis, or Râ-Kedet, vaguely alluded to as a modest fishing village of little significance by some historians. Seven rod-shaped samples of dirt gathered from the seafloor of Alexandria's harbor now suggest there may have been a flourishing urban center there as far back as 1000 B.C.

Coastal geoarchaeologist Jean-Daniel Stanley of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and his colleagues used vibrating hollow tubes to gently extract three-inch-wide rods of sediment 6 to 18 feet long (2 to 5.5 meters) from up to 20 feet (6.5 meters) underwater.

Ceramic shards, high levels of lead that was likely used in construction, building stones imported from elsewhere in Egypt and organic material were detected in the sediment. These all suggest the presence of a significant settlement well before Alexander the Great came.

go

Very interesting, thanks owlscrying. I hope they actually let the info out as they find out things, rather than shut everyone out and keep it all hush hush.

[questionmark]

The biggest problem there will be to "move" new Alexandria to get at the remains. But no matter, whatever is found is another piece to the puzzle.

[bee]

July 24

Scientists have discovered hidden underwater traces of a city that existed at Alexandria at least seven centuries before Alexander the Great arrived, findings hinted at in Homer's Odyssey and that could shed light on the ancient world.

I wonder if they'd find anything similar on other parts of the sea bed below the Mediterranean?

I had a thought while reading this....(which has almost certainly been suggested before)

But what if the fabled 'Atlantis' used to be where the Mediterranean Sea is now....before a

MAJOR flood? Beyond the Pillars of Hercules...but the other way?

And that at this same time Britain was attatched to France?

Maybe what is now the Mediterranean Sea...used to be low lying wet-lands...hence the

tales of Atlantis having those canals? surrounding it?

Just a thought.

EDIT...Just found some sites on the internet that do discuss Atlantis/Mediterranean

so.....this is being looked into.....

Edited July 25, 2007 by bee

[keithisco]

I wonder if they'd find anything similar on other parts of the sea bed below the Mediterranean?

I had a thought while reading this....(which has almost certainly been suggested before)

But what if the fabled 'Atlantis' used to be where the Mediterranean Sea is now....before a

MAJOR flood? Beyond the Pillars of Hercules...but the other way?

And that at this same time Britain was attatched to France?

Maybe what is now the Mediterranean Sea...used to be low lying wet-lands...hence the

tales of Atlantis having those canals? surrounding it?

Just a thought.

EDIT...Just found some sites on the internet that do discuss Atlantis/Mediterranean

so.....this is being looked into.....

Hi BEE

The Med was formed about 5 million years ago, so the information that Plato retells would have very ancient origins indeed. Pre-dating Homo Sapien Sapiens by a quite considerable margin. As supposedly Great Sea Traders one would have to ask with whom were the Atlanteans trading 5 million years ago?

I think I still prefer the idea that if Atlantis ever really existed then it was an Island (probably volcanic) that blew itself apart. Another possibility might be that it was founded on a Geological fault that sheered and took the city into the sea. The volcanic remnant that is Tenerife is on just such a geological fault - line and is predicted to sheer taking half the mountain with it into the Atlantic. When that happens the Tsunami's created will be truly enormous and will leave evidence around the Atlantic rim of a major catastrophe.

If this was the demise of Atlantis then I would suppose that there is geological evidence coincident with a time when Atlantis may have existed.

Possibly just another "crackpot" theory, but interesting to ponder

Edited July 25, 2007 by keithisco

[Princess Serenity]

That's kinda cool. I'll read the rest of the article later. X3

Awsome find!