Top 5 Discoveries on the Ocean Floor

5 - Yonaguni Monument 0:10
The Yonaguni monument is located on Yonaguni Island, one of the most remote Island off the coast of Japan. It was discovered in 1986 by a local diver. The monument looks like an underwater pyramid, something man made and not found in nature. It is said be around 2000 years old based on recent carbon dating. The current theory is that an earthquake buried the structure into the sea. This is one of these things we may never know but people will always try to figure it out.

4 - Two Locomotives 0:34
5 miles off the coast of New Jersey 2 locomotives were found at the bottom of the ocean. Although very rusty they were both preserved in excellent condition. The train engines were discovered in 1985 by a surveying boat captain with a manometer. Both train engines are Planet Class 2-2-2 T models and were encrusted with over 160 years of rust and barnacles. It was a miracle they were found considering they are resting 90 feet below the surface but it is unknown how they got there. There is no record of them being built or lost at sea but it’s thought they were being transported to the mid atlantic and fell to the sea floor during a storm.

3 - Dornier 17 German Bomber 1:11
The Dornier 17 was thought to be extinct even with over 2000 of them being produced up until the 1940s. It was believed none survived, the Battle of Britain and the Blitz, until one was found by a diver in 2008. Discovered on Goodwin Sand near Kent, in the United Kingdom the battered Dornier 17 is still considered to be in “remarkable condition”. Complete with a twisted frame of the plane, both engines, some of the original axle grease, and tires still inflated! Definitely not going to worry about getting a flat tire landing that plane. The Royal Air Force museum recovered the plane in 2013 as part of $1.2 million dollar project that is now spending 2 years on restoration.

2 - Pavlopetri 1:47
Pavlopetri is one of the oldest, lost cities on earth. It was discovered in 1967 by Nicholas Flemming but not fully explored until 2009. The dive team took 5 years to carefully search the entire area of which they found a full city with roads, 2 story homes, most of the buildings contained 12 rooms, a cemetery, gardens, temples, and a 40x20 square plaza. The city planning is said to be so good that it’s actually better then a lot of cities built today. Today 15 buildings can be clearly still seen underwater but this incredibly accurate recreation in 3d shows what the city looked like in it’s prime.

1 - Heracleion Ancient City - 2:21
The ancient egyptian city was found under the water and mapped out meter by meter with its artifacts brought to the surface. It is thought the city collapsed after a massive earthquake and at some point was flooded. The discovery of Heracleion has yielded the find of many egyptian artifacts but the great find of all is the knowledge that we now know that egypt was infact a country that was very heavily involved in shipping and trade via the sea. It was unknown until now if this was actually true.

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