
A Submerged Monolith Near Sicily: Evidence for Mesolithic Human Activity - Petiver
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X15300535
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cstross
On a similar note, see also Doggerland (the large, submerged peninsula off the
north-west coast of Europe, of which the British Isles are the only surviving
above-surface relics today):

[http://education.nationalgeographic.com/maps/doggerland/](http://education.nationalgeographic.com/maps/doggerland/)

A lot of previously-inhabited territory -- presumably fertile lowlands! -- was
inundated as sea levels rose after the last ice age ended, around 9500-8500
years ago.

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JacobAldridge
That's the first time I've ever seen the Netherlands described as "higher
ground"!

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mudil
The most important Mesolithic site is Göbekli Tepe

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe)

It is truly revolutionizing our understanding of mesolithic culture.

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RobertoG
It could be that the flood myths (Atlantis, the floods in the bible and a lot
of others) come from this time.

That would suggest that oral knowledge survive thousands of years (a little
more than DVDs). It's pretty remarkable.

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turder
Not just thousands, try tens of thousands.

For example, Australian Aborigines still have stories about the huge, man-
eating lizards. It was considered just a standard myth until we discovered
fossils of Megalania, a huge lizard matching the description, that went
extinct soon after humans came to Australia.

Closer to the actual sea level rise topic, tribes of coastal northern
Australia still have names and relatively precise description of land features
(mountains etc) that are now underwater, but were land until 9k years ago.

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ams6110
All these worlds are yours, except Sicily. Attempt no contact there.

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rational-future
I've done some diving in the Black Sea and have stumbled upon a number of
structures that looked like human-made artifacts. They are near the shore
lines as they were before the end of the last glacial period. I'm personally
99% sure there was a somewhat advanced civilization at that time.

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turder

      Look up Black Sea deluge theory. Black sea was supposedly flooded (a bit later than the actual sea level rise from the ice melting after the ice age), around 7500 years ago, with levels rising up to 70m and turning it from a freshwater lake into Black Sea, and increasing its size 1.5x-2x.
      That event is one of possible explanations for the spread of what became Indo-European language/culture/people group, which a good deal of us belong to.
      Until the evidence for the Black Sea deluge was found, the Indo-Europeans were theoreticized to have come from area north of Black Sea (it is still so), but I think the initial push came from the now flooded areas.

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mmanfrin
Easier to read:

Look up Black Sea deluge theory. Black sea was supposedly flooded (a bit later
than the actual sea level rise from the ice melting after the ice age), around
7500 years ago, with levels rising up to 70m and turning it from a freshwater
lake into Black Sea, and increasing its size 1.5x-2x.

That event is one of possible explanations for the spread of what became Indo-
European language/culture/people group, which a good deal of us belong to.

Until the evidence for the Black Sea deluge was found, the Indo-Europeans were
theoreticized to have come from area north of Black Sea (it is still so), but
I think the initial push came from the now flooded areas.

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Asbostos
I didn't see any discussion of this in the article, but could it have just
fallen off a ship, maybe from the Romans or something? It looks like the only
dating they've done so far is of the area it was found in, not the monolith
itself.

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jccooper
It seems to have been made from stone from a nearby structure. It would have
been underwater by the time anybody with ships came by.

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madaxe_again
OK, read the paper.

Don't get too excited. From the sound of it, it _could_ be an artefact, those
_could_ be harbour walls, but they could also be looking at some nice old
karst that happens to have weathered into rectilinear shapes.

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JoeAltmaier
...except for the regular drilled holes in the monolith?

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madaxe_again
They're not regular, from the paper, they're holes. You get holes in rocks for
all sorts of reasons, from biogenic processes through to inclusions of softer
or soluble rock.

Just saying that at this stage it's all quite light on evidence.

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coldcode
I wonder if it's black.

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JoeAltmaier
This is old enough to have been Neanderthal?

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ftcHn
_9350 ± 200 year B.P._

B.P. == Before Present
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Present](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Present)

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straws
Should have started with a service-oriented architecture, then their
civilization would have never collapsed.

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tdonia
[http://xkcd.com/1190/](http://xkcd.com/1190/) ?

