Note: this topic is from 1/09/2002 . Thanks blam.
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Posted on 01/09/2002 6:20:57 AM PST by blam
Cubans dismiss underwater city
14/12/2001 03:03
By Andrew Cawthorne
HAVANA (Reuters) - There is no evidence a recently discovered "spectacular" rock formation on the seabed off Cuba's western tip was a lost city belonging to an unknown ancient civilisation, Cuban specialists have said.
Canadian exploration company Advanced Digital Communications (ADC) had indicated the structures discovered at about 2,100 feet (650 metres) below the ocean surface might be ruins of a submerged urban centre from thousands of years ago.
But local specialists warned it was too early to tell, and said the formation may have a natural explanation.
"There are no convincing signs of the presence of man-made work," said Dr. Gabino La Rosa, of the National Anthropological centre, who added that he participated in a summer expedition with ADC to explore the zone.
"Without doubt, it's a spectacular find, but it could have a natural, not cultural, explanation. ... Up to now, all we can say is that there are large rock formations ... which show a certain organisation and are also evocative of pyramid shapes."
ADC said the structure off the Guanahacabibes Peninsula was on a land-strip that probably once joined Cuba to Mexico's Yucatan region before being sunk by volcanic activity.
The company said an underwater robot, a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), filmed parts of the 7.7-square-mile (20 sq km) area in July, showing smooth, granite-like blocks laid out in structures resembling pyramids, roads and buildings.
'NOT SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE'
ADC's Soviet-born Canadian ocean engineer Paulina Zelitsky, who led the summer expedition, said that while the formation looked like a man-made structure from at least 6,000 years' ago, further research was needed and "it would be totally irresponsible to say what it was before we have evidence."
La Rosa, in comments to Cuban state news agency Prensa Latina, shed doubt on the hypothesis of a "Lost City."
"During an investigation, we cannot get carried away by enthusiasm or initial suppositions without proving or rigorously demonstrating our hypotheses," he said.
Although La Rosa did not explain what could be the natural causes of the stone structures, some other foreign experts hearing about the case said they could be limestone or other geological formations which have in the past misled explorers in other parts of the world.
Another Cuban specialist, Dr. Jose Diaz Duque, of Cuba's Science, Technology and Environment Ministry, said it was "hasty" to be talking about a possible sunken city.
"There is not sufficient evidence," he also told Prensa Latina. "The first inhabitants of this region arrived more than 4,000 years ago and, on the evidence found, they could not build streets, ramps or a city. They had an inferior level of development and generally lived in caves."
He added that when Cuba was thought to be joined to mainland Latin America, millions of years ago, there was no human life on the continent.
ADC is the deepest operator among four foreign firms working in joint venture with President Fidel Castro's government to explore Cuban waters containing hundreds of treasure-laden ships from the colonial era.
© 2001 Reuters Click for restrictions
They're just gambling on the odds and the odds are that it is not manmade. (As much as I would like for it to be)
I know! Andrew Collins, after viewing the same video tape, said he didn't see any inscriptions or anything else to support her claims. (And.....Andrew Collins has a web site supporting the cause for Atlantis in the Americas.....So!)
For later reading.
Note: this topic is from 1/09/2002 . Thanks blam.
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Note: this topic is from 1/09/2002 . Thanks blam.
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