Posted on 06/08/2006 6:40:09 PM PDT by blam
Experts look for 'watery kingdom'
The forest can been seen at low tide in Cardigan Bay
Scientists are to carry out an underwater search for a supposed kingdom in Cardigan Bay said to have existed more than 5,000 years ago. Legend has it that the low-lying land of Cantre'r Gwaelod disappeared under the waves during a storm or a tsunami.
Experts say the remains of an ancient forest seen sometimes at low tide is evidence that Cantre'r Gwaelod existed.
Conservation group Friends of Cardigan Bay will begin the three-year project in Ceredigion this summer.
The oldest part of the submerged forest is thought to date back to 3500 BC, although other sections, at Borth, near Aberystwyth, are believed to date back to 1500 BC.
It can be seen from near Aberystwyth to Aberdyfi and Tywyn up the coast in Gwynedd.
The lost civilisation of Cantre'r Gwaelod - or Lowland Hundred in English - was protected from the sea by a series of dykes and sluice gates.
One stormy night, legend has it that the appointed watchman Seithennin, a heavy drinker, was at a party and left the water gates open, the land flooded and disappeared under crashing waves.
Part of the forest is said to date back to 3500 BC
Phil Hughes, chairman of the Friends of Cardigan Bay, said: "There is a lot of evidence to suggest that Cantre'r Gwaelod existed and I believe there was land out there.
"It will be the first time that it would have been seriously researched from an ecological point of view.
"The make-up of the area would have provided a natural barrier against raiders and shelter from the weather."
Mr Hughes said the most obvious sign that Cantre'r Gwaelod existed were the trees stumps that poked out of the water at low tide.
He added: "The primary aim of the project is to study the ecology of the sea bed in the area.
"We expect the project will last two to three years because the area measures some seven nautical miles."
GGG Ping.
Damn global warming - oh, wait. This happened before Global Warming? What the ??? How are we supposed to believe that this place sunk into the ocean if we hadn't even invented Global Warming yet? Don't these people know how hard this is going to be to explain now? Just damn.
Didden know they had dykes way back then.
ping
Beat me to it.
The Sunken Lands were said to lay between Britain and Ireland, and figure in an episode of the Mabinogeon. Interestingly, that cycle starts before there were tides. :') Another lost land off Britain is Lyonnesse. Still another is off the Solent. Axeheads have been dredged up off the floor of the North Sea. There's a lot of stuff down there.
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"The Mississippi River broke through a protective dike today...what is a protective dike? Is it a large woman that says 'Don't go near there!' 'But Betty-' 'Don't go near there! Don't go down by the river!'... No, we can't say 'dyke' on the air, we can't even say 'lesbian' anymore, it's 'women in comfortable shoes'...thank you."
"Interestingly, that cycle starts before there were tides. :')"
HUH? 'Splain yourself, Ricky!
(': Merely that there is a reference to the beginning of the tides, with a mythical explanation for them and for why they began.
If I remember correctly... that same evidence occurs off the coast of New Hampshire.
Tanks. Tought it was a "pre-moon" society...an' I don't mean Before Drop Trou.
There is at least one other surviving reference to a time without a Moon, from another culture.
Love this stuff. Atlantis, Continent of Mu, Olmec, Toltec... all of it. Should have been a researcher.
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