Sunday, September 15, 2024

Divers Find ‘Paved Road’ Underwater Built Over 10,000 Years Ago—Was It Advanced Ancient Humans?

 There is something very strange about the crystal blue waters in the Caribbean Sea, dotted with white sand islands and coconut trees, that seems to attract unsolved mysteries.

But unless the minds behind Wikipedia or mainstream science have a change of heart, the ever-mysterious underwater highway known as Bimini Road will likely remain case-closed.

Thereby hangs a tale common to throngs of mysterious places in the Atlantic Ocean east of the Florida Keys wherein ships, divers, and other witnesses speak of the unexplained—only to be scoffed at, derided, and scorned.

As with the Bermuda Triangle, Atlantis, and the fountain of youth, the Bimini Road joined the list of Caribbean enigmas when, in 1968, Joseph Manson Valentine, Jacques Mayol, and Robert Angove dove 18 feet underwater about a mile off of North Bimini, some 80 miles northwest of the Bahamas, and saw what they described as “pavement” on the ocean floor.

A host of roughly rectangular stone slabs, they reported, rounded like loaves of bread by the sand and current over centuries, formed a flawlessly straight line. Its main feature stretched over 2,600 feet and curved like a “J” at one end. There were two smaller line features. Megalithic in size, the blocks were each 7 to 13 feet wide with right angles and seemed laid level by human hands.


A satellite view of Bimini. Public Domain

A map of North Bimini showing Bimini Road. Rainer Lesniewski/Shutterstock

The anomaly posed many questions to scientists. How did it form? Was it made by man or nature? Could advanced civilizations have existed so early as to make this—in the Ice Age? Before the region sank beneath the sea 10,000 years ago? Or could nature have created something so fine-tuned? Thus began a clash of ideas.

There were two camps.

One dove down and saw a man-made road. Scientists and amateurs alike looked, and their eyes told them enough: this could not be natural.

The other camp was more skeptical. To avoid rocking the boat (figuratively speaking), they used science to explain the road to fit the foregoing research: it was natural.

As discoveries go, this one saw funded scientists fly in to investigate. Eugene Shinn from the University of Miami’s Department of Geology was foremost among them. Mr. Shinn dove down in 1978 and took radiocarbon core samples. Ultimately, he stated, it was beachrock—a mix of sand, shells, and cement—created by nature.


Megalithic blocks form a line on the seafloor off North Bimini. FtLaud/Shutterstock

The so-called “consensus” of science that grew out of Mr. Shinn’s research, more or less, says this: Bimini Road formed under the surface of the island. It was exposed by coastal erosion some 2,000 years ago. Its gaps at regular intervals were opened by natural jointing. This view is widely held and amplified on Wikipedia today.

The other camp is less uniform. Visiting Bimini Road, the notion was put forward: there was “overwhelming evidence that the road is made-made.” Their voices spoke from less lavish soapboxes: alternative media, websites, books, anecdotes. Much of it smacks of “New Age” and probably is sprinkled (or drenched) with misinformation to smear those brave voices speaking truth to orthodoxy. And there were voices whose minds changed.

Among the theorists, archaeologist William Donato told The Epoch Times that Bimini Road isn’t a road; the line of stones forms a wall known as a breakwater, built to protect a prehistoric settlement from waves. This engendered its alter ego: Bimini Wall.

One of the strongest arguments for a man-made Bimini Road comes from Gavin Menzies’s book, “1421: The Year China Discovered the World.” He writes: “Small stones are placed underneath larger ones, apparently to make the sea-bed level;” the structure “contains arrow-shaped ‘pointers’ that can only have been man-made;” and “some small square stones have tongue and grooved joints.”

Mr. Menzies, considered an outlier in both camps, believes ancient Chinese explorers anchored here and built the road as a slipway to repair a ship.

In 2022, British author Graham Hancock appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast to discuss the road. He said it was artificially “propped up” and “leveled out” with smaller rocks. “When you dive on it,” he told Mr. Rogan, “it’s impossible to believe it’s entirely the work of nature.”

And there have been accounts that got their wires crossed.


Stones ranging from 7 to 13 feet in width pave the underwater road at North Bimini. FtLaud/Shutterstock
Ironically, both Wikipedia and Mr. Menzies offer polar opposite arguments but cite the same man. Mr. Menzies noted David Zink, who explored Bimini Road in 1974, mentioning “small stones” under the larger ones being a second layer beneath the Bimini Road. Wikipedia also cited Mr. Zink but with a reversal: the conclusion about this second layer “was likely incorrect.”

Amid all the clashing, The Epoch Times managed to obtain exclusive insight into the debacle.


Bimini Road, also called Bimini Wall, is believed to have been built to protect a prehistoric settlement from waves. FtLaud/Shutterstock

Psychologist Greg Little, author of “Edgar Cayce’s Atlantis,” revealed to the newspaper another flip-flop. He claims to have evidence of scientists altering core samples to support that Bimini Road was naturally formed. He says they admitted being pressured to do so by “all the craziness” surrounding Bimini Road, that it was “done for fun,” and it was done “to make a good story.”

To verify Mr. Little’s claims, The Epoch Times reached out to the scientist in question, who replied they were “not going to nit-pick over Little’s concerns.”

If true, the claim raises questions: Why would the orthodoxy mislead? What do they stand to gain by disproving ancient man’s involvement in the creation of Bimini Road?

This we posed to Mr. Little, who drew on psychology to explain:

“All contradictions to their beliefs are probably perceived as a direct threat to them professionally and psychologically,“ he said. ”The long history of science has countless examples of widely held beliefs that were proven wrong by research. But even in the face of incontrovertible proof that these beliefs were wrong, many so-called scientists refused to accept the new evidence.”

As for Bimini Road—whether it’s case-closed, as the “consensus” says, or mysterious as ever—there’s perhaps a way to know: Visit Bimini Road. Swim the crystal blue waters. Witness its wonders yourself with your eyes.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/bright/divers-find-paved-road-underwater-built-over-10000-years-ago-was-it-advanced-ancient-humans-5665780?&utm_source=MB_article_paid_o&utm_campaign=MB_article_2024-09-15-ca&utm_medium=email&est=iDlwmi6f7fBF4NvovxoXJ6yPpWC4lkOMX%2FxzLxLecynGqF%2FtX7DBnZBO9rHjlzkn0zB5&utm_content=highlight-news-1