Underwater mysteries

Once a marine archeologist was measuring the area of the ship wreck under the water. Suddenly, he spotted a village.

Archeologists continued their research on that village and they found remains of rectangular houses, hearth-places, and well.

They also found some bones of wild animals in the well. Scientists assumed that: maybe some people threw the bones in the well when it was out of use.

When they examined the houses, they found the burial of a woman and a child. They found that they were suffering from tuberculosis—it is an infectious disease that is caused by bacteria and affects lungs, but it can also damage other body organs.

There were also skeletons with ear damage. Scientists assumed that it was because of the cold water. Near those skeletons, they found some arrowheads, blades and axes. It was looking like they were going to hunt for fish.

Studies have shown that this city was drowned due to a tsunami that was caused by a volcanic eruption— it’s a process in which lava and gas comes out of a volcano.

The name of this city was Atlit-Yam that was present in Israel. And it’s age is between 8900years and 8300years.

Isn’t it interesting? I have more interesting information for you but first just have a look at the definition.

Underwater city

These are cities that might have been sunk due to tsunamis or earthquakes.

Let’s continue our journey!

Pavlopetri, Greece

This city is unique because it’s the only city that has complete towns, streets, buildings and tombs. It was discovered by Nichols Flemming. Scientific studies have found that this city is about 5000 years old.

It sank due to earthquakes.

Baia, Italy

The ultra wealthy people only used to take a trip to this city. It was a fun place for the Roman empire.

This city was also famous for its unlawful acts.

The water level around the city kept rising and one day there was a volcanic vent—it is an opening in Earth’s surface from where lava, steam and gas come out— that rose water level even more that caused the city to sink.

Who wants to hear the tale of this city?

You? So let’s begin:

There was a woman named Julia. Her husband was the king. They had a son named Nero. Julia wanted his son to be the king so she poisoned the king. Somehow, he survived. Then she continued his tricks and one day she gave him the poisonous wild fruit. He died. And her son became the king.

Port Royal, Jamaica

The old name of the port royal was Tiano. Here people used to live peacefully. But then Spain attacked there and captured it. After that, the British attacked and they took over the land and gave it the name of the port royal.

After that the Spanish pirates came over and started attacking. Due to this bad situation, the British called the other pirates to be on their side. They helped them and captured the city. Then these pirates started living there and getting richer day by day.

Then the situation got better and the Jamaica government felt that there is no need for pirates to protect the city so they killed all the pirates.

The time kept on passing and one day an earthquake came and the city sank. According to scientists this city is 513 years old.

Lion city, China

Lion city is located under the Qiando lake. Once it was the hub for politics and economic matters. Then the government started a project for making a dam there. They wanted to make the way of water through this city. The government emptied whole city. And it was purposely flooded. It’s about 1300 years old.

Heracleion/Thonis, Egypt

The divers discovered a warcraft under the water. Then the archeologists began to research. And they found a city that was named as Thonis.

This city was ruled by Pharaoh and it was constructed on the delta of river Nile. This city was famous for it’s trading facilities. Scientists also found very valuable things there like: gold coins, statues, Jewelry, ceramics, ritual objects and architectural elements.

Scientists found that this city was sunk due to an earthquake and this city is about 27,000 years old.

How do scientists know the age of these cities?

There are three methods for knowing the age of old things:

• Radio carbon dating
• Luminescence dating
• Uranium-thorium-lead dating

Radio carbon dating

When organisms are alive some of them take in carbon and some take out. But, when an organism dies it stops taking in or out carbon. But there are some carbon atoms left on the surface of dead things that may be reduced to nitrogen. So what scientists do is they measure the amount of these atoms left and they put these values into a formula to find out the age of that object.

Let’s say there’s a plant and it has 18 grams of carbon left.

Scientists know that the half life of carbon is 5,730 years. Half life of carbon means the time taken by carbon to become half of its original amount.

Then what will happen is that:

18g➔9g➔4.5g ➔2.25g ( it means three half lives)

How old: 3×5730= 1,7190

That plant is 1,7190 years old.

Isn’t it fun?

Luminescence dating

It’s the method of knowing the age of non- living objects that are buried under the ground like coins.

The objects that are buried under ground have stored energy. When they are exposed to light, they give out their energy in the form of light and get ready to store energy again. So by knowing how much energy they release, we can calculate their age.

Uranium-thorium-lead dating

Scientists use Luminescence dating method to measure the life of rocks that are the most old objects on Earth.

Uranium and thorium decay into lead. So scientists measure the amount of these elements in the rocks and calculate their age just like they do in carbon dating.