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LOST WORLD OF
OKINAWA
Yonaguni island is the last island in the straggling Okinawa
archipelago of south Japan. Recently it has become one of the most
important archaeological dive sites around, and finds itself at
the center of the debate on early human civilization.
This is due to the discovery off its coastline of an underwater
stone structure measuring 120m by 40m. Many scientists believe
humans shaped the structure. If is true, it would date back 12,000
years to when that area was last above water, before the end of
the last Ice Age. It would become the oldest man-made structure
ever discovered, outdating the pyramids of Egypt by several
thousand years and possibly signifying the existence of a
previously unknown civilization.
Jacques Mayol, the pioneer of breath-hold diving, visited the
site. Jacques has an incredible affinity with whales and dolphins,
but also knows a great deal about underwater archaeological sites.
Mayol, has visited a number of underwater structures around the
world over the years. When Kenny Ehman in his article (appeared in
DIVER Magazine UK - July 1999) asked him if he believes that there
might be a connection to the underwater sites that he studied in
the Canary Islands and at Bimini Island, this was his reply:
"There was a race of humans called the Cro-Magnons. Some of the
bones of Cro-Magnons have been found in the Canary Islands, where
they are known locally as the Guanches. The average height of
these humans was 2m. They had blond hair and blue eyes, and were
extremely artistic. The theory is that they may have come from a
lost continent - maybe Atlantis," explains Mayol excitedly as
we stand on one of Yonaguni's tall cliffs.
Before the continents drifted into their current formation, the
islands of Okinawa, of which Yonaguni is one, would probably have
formed a land bridge between mainland Japan and south-east Asia.
This might have been a crossroads for overland migration and could
even be a link to early trans-Pacific crossings.
This theory is supported by
those scientists who believe that human migration to the Americas
might not have been over the Bering Strait, but across the
Pacific. Pottery has been discovered in Ecuador which bears
similarities to pottery from the Jomon culture of Japan, which was
active more than 10,000 years ago.
Yonaguni has definitely captured Mayol's interest. "I feel that I
am in the middle of something so much bigger than I am. I got the
same eerie feeling 20 years ago when I was diving regularly at
prehistoric sites in the area of the Bahamas. I think that the
monument at Yonaguni is partly man-made. It is absolutely obvious
to me that it is not totally natural."
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