The Cuban underwater formation is a site thought by some to be a submerged granite structural complex off the coast of the
Guanahacabibes Peninsula in the
Pinar del Río Province
Pinar del Río is one of the provinces of Cuba. It is at the western end of the island of Cuba.
Geography
The Pinar del Río province is Cuba's westernmost province and contains one of Cuba's three main mountain ranges, the Cordillera de Guanig ...
of
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
.
['Lost city' found beneath Cuban waters, BBC News, 7 December 2001.](_blank)
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Overview
Sonar images interpreted as being symmetrical and geometric stone structures resembling an urban complex were first recorded in early 2001 covering an area of at depths of between and .Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
company called Advanced Digital Communications,government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...
. The team returned to the site a second time with an underwater remotely operated vehicle
A remotely operated underwater vehicle (technically ROUV or just ROV) is a tethered underwater mobile device, commonly called ''underwater robot''.
Definition
This meaning is different from remote control vehicles operating on land or in the ...
that filmed sonar images interpreted as various pyramid
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrila ...
s and circular structures made out of massive, smooth blocks of stone that resembled hewn granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...
. Zalitzki said "It's a really wonderful structure which really looks like it could have been a large urban centre. However, it would be totally irresponsible to say what it was before we have evidence."Robert Ballard
Robert Duane Ballard (born June 30, 1942) is an American retired Navy officer and a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island who is most noted for his work in underwater archaeology: maritime archaeology and archaeology ...
was quoted as saying: "That's too deep. I'd be surprised if it was human. You have to ask yourself: how did it get there? I've looked at a lot of sonar images in my life, and it can be sort of like looking at an ink blot -- people can sometimes see what they want to see. I'll just wait for a bit more data."Manuel Iturralde
Manuel A. Iturralde-Vinent (born Cienfuegos, 10 July 1946), is a Cuban geologist and paleontologist and former deputy director of the Cuban National Natural History Museum in Havana. He is a scientific personality in Cuba and the Caribbean and Pre ...
called for more samples before drawing conclusions about the site, saying the results so far were very unusual. He estimated that it would have taken 50,000 years for such structures to have sunken to the depth at which they were said to be found and stated that none of the known cultures living that long ago had the ability to build such structures. A specialist in underwater archaeology at Florida State University added: "It would be cool if they were right, but it would be real advanced for anything we would see in the New World for that time frame. The structures are out of time and out of place."
See also
*Adam's Bridge
Adam's Bridge, '; ta, ஆதாம் பாலம் ' also known as Rama's Bridge or ''Rama Setu'', '; ta, ராமர் பாலம் '; sa, रामसेतु ' is a chain of natural limestone shoals, between Pamban Island, a ...
*Baltic Sea anomaly
The Baltic Sea anomaly is a feature visible on an indistinct sonar image taken by Peter Lindberg, Dennis Åberg and their Swedish Ocean X diving team while treasure hunting on the floor of the northern Baltic Sea at the center of the Gulf of Bot ...
* Bimini Road
* Unidentified submerged object
* Yonaguni Monument
References
{{reflist
Geography of Pinar del Río Province
Landforms of Cuba
Earth mysteries
Pseudoarchaeology