With 71% of the Earth’s surface covered with water, it’s not surprising that throughout the centuries, many things have been discovered deep below its surface. Over the years, explorers have found many things underwater, from shipwrecks to missing planes, to even treasures worth millions of dollars. But what we often don’t hear about are the even more bizarre things that we wouldn’t expect to be found beneath the water.
There are many odd things that have been found deep within the waters over the years that will absolutely blow your mind. From an ancient computer, to lost cities, to an underwater Stonehenge, some of the most unimaginable things found deep below the waves are absolutely astonishing. Listed below are 10 of the strangest things to have ever been found underwater.
10. Treasure Of Emeralds
Off the coast of Key West, Florida in 2010, an amateur treasure hunter named Jay Miscovich found over 10,000 emeralds. The price of the jewels were estimated at half a billion dollars. It would seem as if he hit the jackpot, but unfortunately for him a big legal battle was about to take place.
The huge amount of jewels recovered created a lot of media attention, which eventually also caused the Federal Government to get involved. A court order granted Miscovich temporary ownership of the jewels which made it illegal for him to sell the emeralds. What’s even more confusing is that nobody knows where the jewels even came from.
This was just too much stress for Miscovich who was very much in debt, and in 2013 he committed suicide. A few months later, it was discovered that it had been a hoax… kind of. The emeralds were very much real and worth tens of thousands of dollars, but it turns out they were store-bought and planted, presumably by Miscovich himself.
9. Blackbeard’s Cannons
In 1718, Blackbeard sailed the Queen Anne’s Revenge to North Carolina where his crew blocked off Charleston Harbor, following by him crashing the ship. It was originally a French slaving vessel called La Concorde until the ruthless pirate captured it in 1717, then renamed it and performed modifications on it, making it one of the most dangerous ships of all-time.
In 1996, the ship was recovered, along with tens of thousands of artifacts, including a massive anchor, medical gear, and several weapons. Thirty of those were cannons of many different sizes with the largest weighing in at 3,000 pounds. The size of the balls that the cannons launched ranged from half a pound to six pounds each. It is estimated that the cannons aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge were dated between the years 1640 to 1714 and at least nine of them were still loaded. Quite a few of the recovered artifacts are on display for the public to view at North Carolina’s Maritime Museum.
8. An Alien Spacecraft?
In June 2011, a Swedish treasure hunting team discovered something strange on the bottom of the Baltic Sea submerged in over 250 feet of water that looked eerily similar to an alien saucer. Nicknamed the “Baltic Sea Anomaly,” the object is 70 meters long with an appearance of a steel grey color.
There are several other theories circulating as to what the weirdly-shaped object is, such as it being the Star Wars franchise’s Millennium Falcon, or even part of a sunken city that was lost many years ago. Other theories include it being the remains of a World War II anti-submarine device or an underwater Nazi base.
Scientists, however, say that while it does look alien-like, it’s a strange rock formation created by nature. In fact, some divers gathered samples from the object and sent them off to scientists for testing. It was then concluded that the “Baltic Sea Anomaly” was nothing more than a glacial deposit from the Ice Age, when glaciers carved out a good portion of the sea and could have transported rocks there.
On the other hand, members of the team that discovered the object believe that it is not natural. In fact, they said that when they got within 200 meters of it, all of their electrical equipment quit working until they moved farther away from the anomaly, and everything started working again.
7. Locomotive Graveyard
A locomotive graveyard was found (by accident) by Paul Hepler in 1985 while mapping the bottom of the ocean with a magnometer. The location of the graveyard is very close to the coast of New Jersey – only about five miles from land and in ninety feet of water.
The locomotives are rare Planet Class 2-2-2 T models that were only produced for a limited amount of time. They were pretty much outdated as soon as they were made, as they weighed approximately 15 tons, while other locomotives that were being produced weighed 35 tons.
Although there aren’t any records detailing the lost locomotives, it is believed that they found their water home around the 1850s. Experts believe that the locomotives were being shipped from Boston to the Mid-Atlantic on a barge when a storm hit the area and either they fell off the barge, or perhaps they were intentionally thrown overboard in order to lighten the ship in the rough waters.
Oddly enough, the locomotives were in pretty good shape for being underwater for over a century and there are even plans to raise them out of the water to hopefully be restored.
6. Ancient City Of Alexandria
In 1998, the ancient Egyptian city of Alexandria was discovered underwater in the Mediterranean Sea, and was almost perfectly preserved after being buried in the water for around 1,600 years. Explorers were astonished at the great shape in which the ancient city was found, as it is believed that it went underwater due to several natural disasters, such as rising waters and earthquakes.
One of the most amazing things that divers found was the royal palace of Cleopatra. They discovered marble floors, along with columns, kilns and basins, blocks of dressed limestone, walls, and statues of Egyptian divinities which are believed to be part of the palace. They also found a dark-gray granite sphinx, as well as an important religious statue that hadn’t been seen by anyone in approximately 2,000 years.
With many of the Pharaonic remains found in the city, a Polish professor was quoted saying, “We can certainly say in light of these discoveries that Ptolemaic and Roman Alexandria were less Hellenistic and much more Egyptian than we thought.”
5. Secret Undersea River
Researchers have discovered an undersea river of salt water that’s flowing along the deep channel underneath the Black Sea. Some parts of the undersea river are 115 feet deep and over half a mile wide, and contain rapids, along with waterfalls. It is estimated that with the large amount of water flowing through it, if it was located on land it would be the sixth largest river on Earth.
It’s hard to believe that one body of water can flow through another body of water, but this is precisely what’s happening. Discovered by Dr. Daniel Parsons and his colleagues, the undersea river was created by salt water coming in through the Bosphorus Strait from the Mediterranean Sea and into the Black Sea, which has a lower amount of salt in the water. The denser water, which comes in from the Mediterranean, causes it to flow just like a river along the sea bed.
4. Lost Civilization And Potential Burial Place Of Matthew The Apostle
Divers discovered the ruins of a lost ancient civilization at Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan and it could also be the burial place of Matthew the Apostle. Explorers found more than 200 artifacts between three and seventy feet underwater, including a piece of bronze ritual sickle, whetstones for sharpening knives, and several ceramics believed to be from the Saka civilization’s settlement, which was 2,500 years old.
The most breathtaking discovery was a portion of a ceramic pot with a stamp on it written in Armenian and Syrian scripts. Experts then took possession of the pot to correctly identify the writings on the stamp. Many historians believe that Matthew the Apostle was buried in the Lake Issyk-Kul area and this pot could be the information needed to prove that there was in fact an Armenian monastery located on the lake, where Matthew was supposedly buried along with several of his relics.
3. The World’s Oldest City?
In 2001, the remains of a lost city in the Gulf of Khambhat (originally known as the Gulf of Cambay) off the coast of India were discovered. Some archaeologists believe that these remains are that of the oldest city in history. They have found human remains, as well as pieces of art work, sculptures, and wooden furniture. In fact, one piece of wood that was tested is believed to be at least 9,500 years old. Coincidentally, that is approximately the same time in history that the Ice Age finished. What that means is that the city, now named the Gulf of Khambhat Cultural Complex, is 5,000 years older than the Mesopotamian cities which were originally considered to be the oldest cities in history.
The people who lived in the lost city could very well have been the ancestors of the Harappan people who lived in northwest India and Pakistan around 3000 BC. The origins of the people were previously a mystery and this could be the connection scientists have been looking for.
2. Stonehenge In Lake Michigan
In 2007, a professor of underwater archaeology and his friend were out on Lake Michigan taking sonar readings when they discovered a circular stone arrangement of vertical pillars in 40 feet of water. Those pillars looked strikingly similar to those of Stonehenge in England.
They also noticed an engraving on a boulder that appeared to have been that of a mastodon – a large elephant-like mammal and very much extinct. In fact, it is estimated that the mastodon has been extinct for ten to eleven thousand years. That’s several thousands of years earlier than the originally estimated date as to when these underwater pillars were created.
It is still a mystery as to how this underwater arrangement of stones got there, why it was built, and why it looks so similar to Stonehenge, which is located all the way in England – very far from Lake Michigan.
1. Ancient Computer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSQNEPbQOiI
The Antikythera mechanism was found around the year 1900 on the Antikythera shipwreck that happened off a Greek island. Believed to be the earliest type of computer, the Antikythera was an analog computer that was used to foresee astronomical positions, as well as eclipses.
It is believed that the mechanism originated sometime around the year 205 BC. This type of technology did not reappear in historical artifacts from Europe until the 14th century so it is a huge mystery as to what types of technology were available in those ancient times.
The mechanism is currently on display at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. And upon further analysis of the mechanism, it appears that there are signs of modern and sophisticated technology inside, such as gears with triangular teeth similar to the inside of a clock, as well as a ring divided into degrees much like a protractor that kids use in school. Technology like this wasn’t thought to have existed until much later – over a thousand years after the Antikythera mechanism was created.