Ġebel ġol-Baħar is an alleged megalithic temple located underwater off the coast of

St. Julian's Saint Julian's () is a town in the Eastern Region of Malta. As of 2020, its registered number of inhabitants stands at 13,792. It is situated along the coast, north of the country's capital, Valletta. It is known for tourism-oriented businesse ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. The site was identified in 1999 by retired real estate investor Hubert Zeitlmair, a follower of

Zecharia Sitchin Zecharia Sitchin (July 11, 1920 – October 9, 2010) was an author of a number of books proposing an explanation for human origins involving ancient astronauts. Sitchin attributed the creation of the ancient Sumerian culture to the ''Anunnaki'' ...

, but it was never studied properly and archaeologists are not convinced that the site is a temple.

Site

The site is located on an

underwater plateau An oceanic or submarine plateau is a large, relatively flat elevation that is higher than the surrounding relief with one or more relatively steep sides. There are 184 oceanic plateaus in the world, covering an area of or about 5.11% of the o ...

approximately 2 km off the coast of

. The plateau is 900 by 500 metres long, and its highest point seems to be man-made, and is 19 metres below sea level. The site contains large boulders which Zeitlmair believes to be man-made and not natural, and which are covered in vegetation. Zeitlmair describes it as consisting of a cluster of three

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...

s with 'rooms' with a diameter of 9 to 11 metres, with parts having a height up to 6 to 10 metres. An 'avenue' goes up to the entrance of the structure, which faces east. Tracks on the seabed resembling cart ruts were also observed on the site.

Discovery

The site was discovered on 13 July 1999 by Shaun Arrigo and his brother Kurt, who were working under the instructions of Hubert Zeitlmair, a retired German real estate investor interested in

pseudoarchaeology Pseudoarchaeology (sometimes called fringe or alternative archaeology) consists of attempts to study, interpret, or teach about the subject-matter of archaeology while rejecting, ignoring, or misunderstanding the accepted Scientific method, data ...

. The discovery was reported in the local media in October 1999, but after some time interest died down. Further explorations of the site were conducted by Zeitlmair in November 1999 and May 2000. Zeitlmair believes that the temple was built by aliens in around 10,000 BC to 12,000 BC, and was submerged at the end of the

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

during the flood recounted in Genesis. He states that he has been guided by his "primeval ancestors, namely... the God Pa.tha-i-da.na Asu.ara tSi.dha, and the Goddess Ashtar-tara Queen of

Atlantis Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...

" who he met on Malta. His views do not fit within Malta's prehistoric chronology, as the earliest known human habitation of the island began in around 5900 BC. The site was given the name ''Ġebel ġol-Baħar'', meaning "Stones in the Sea" in the

Maltese language Maltese (, also or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language derived from Siculo-Arabic, late medieval Sicilian Arabic with Romance languages, Romance Stratum (linguistics), superstrata. It is the only Semitic languages, Semitic language pred ...

. It has also been linked with the island of Atlantis, and Zeitlmair has published a book about this in German.

Analysis

Maltese archaeologists are not convinced that the site is a megalithic temple. Other people who have dived there say that the boulders which make up the site are not megalithic, but modern ones which were dumped illegally. Mark Rose of the

Archaeological Institute of America The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is North America, North America's oldest learned society and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology. AIA professionals have carried out archaeological fieldwork around the world and ...

has written that "Chronology appears to be somewhat confused in Zeitlmair's interpretation. According to the web site, he sees links between the submerged "temple" and both Noah's Flood and the rise in sea level following the end of the Ice Age (the period to which, he told Maltamag, he hopes studies will show the Maltese temples date). Furthermore, the presence of deeper sand deposits on the west side of the "ruins," the side toward

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

, than on the east side is taken as an indication that the flooding of the Mediterranean by Atlantic waters (which really did occur) was involved in the inundation of the "temple." The Mediterranean flooding, however, took place some five million years ago. As to the builders of the temples, Zeitlmair defers to Zechariah Sitchin."

References

External links

Video about Ġebel ġol-Baħar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gebel gol-Bahar Megalithic Temples of Malta Underwater ruins St. Julian's, Malta Pseudoarchaeology 1999 archaeological discoveries