Tag Archives: natural history

Underwater Bimini Road Suggests Advanced Ancient Humans?

There is something very strange about the crystal blue waters in the Caribbean Sea, dotted with white sand islands and coconut trees, that seems to attract unsolved mysteries.

But unless the minds behind Wikipedia or mainstream science have a change of heart, the ever-mysterious underwater highway known as Bimini Road will likely remain case-closed.

Thereby hangs a tale common to throngs of mysterious places in the Atlantic Ocean east of the Florida Keys wherein ships, divers, and other witnesses speak of the unexplained—only to be scoffed at, derided, and scorned.

As with the Bermuda Triangle, Atlantis, and the fountain of youth, the Bimini Road joined the list of Caribbean enigmas when, in 1968, Joseph Manson Valentine, Jacques Mayol, and Robert Angove dove 18 feet underwater about a mile off of North Bimini, some 80 miles northwest of the Bahamas, and saw what they described as “pavement” on the ocean floor.

A host of roughly rectangular stone slabs, they reported, rounded like loaves of bread by the sand and current over centuries, formed a flawlessly straight line. Its main feature stretched over 2,600 feet and curved like a “J” at one end. There were two smaller line features. Megalithic in size, the blocks were each 7 to 13 feet wide with right angles and seemed laid level by human hands.

A satellite view of Bimini. (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bimini_island.jpg">Public Domain</a>)
A satellite view of Bimini. Public Domain
A map of North Bimini showing Bimini Road. (Rainer Lesniewski/Shutterstock)
A map of North Bimini showing Bimini Road. Rainer Lesniewski/Shutterstock

The anomaly posed many questions to scientists.

How did it form? Was it made by man or nature? Could advanced civilizations have existed so early as to make this—in the Ice Age? Before the region sank beneath the sea 10,000 years ago? Or could nature have created something so fine-tuned? Thus began a clash of ideas.

There were two camps.

One dove down and saw a man-made road. Scientists and amateurs alike looked, and their eyes told them enough: this could not be natural.

The other camp was more skeptical. To avoid rocking the boat (figuratively speaking), they used science to explain the road to fit the foregoing research: it was natural.

As discoveries go, this one saw funded scientists fly in to investigate. Eugene Shinn from the University of Miami’s Department of Geology was foremost among them. Mr. Shinn dove down in 1978 and took radiocarbon core samples. Ultimately, he stated, it was beachrock—a mix of sand, shells, and cement—created by nature.

Megalithic blocks form a line on the seafloor off North Bimini. (FtLaud/Shutterstock)
Megalithic blocks form a line on the seafloor off North Bimini. FtLaud/Shutterstock

The so-called “consensus” of science that grew out of Mr. Shinn’s research, more or less, says this: Bimini Road formed under the surface of the island.

It was exposed by coastal erosion some 2,000 years ago. Its gaps at regular intervals were opened by natural jointing. This view is widely held and amplified on Wikipedia today.

The other camp is less uniform. Visiting Bimini Road, the notion was put forward: there was “overwhelming evidence that the road is made-made.” Their voices spoke from less lavish soapboxes: alternative media, websites, books, anecdotes. Much of it smacks of “New Age” and probably is sprinkled (or drenched) with misinformation to smear those brave voices speaking truth to orthodoxy. And there were voices whose minds changed.

Among the theorists, archaeologist William Donato suggested that Bimini Road isn’t a road; the line of stones forms a wall known as a breakwater, built to protect a prehistoric settlement from waves. This engendered its alter ego: Bimini Wall.

One of the strongest arguments for a man-made Bimini Road comes from Gavin Menzies’s (former British Submarine Commander and amateur historian) book, “1421: The Year China Discovered the World.” He writes: “Small stones are placed underneath larger ones, apparently to make the sea-bed level;” the structure “contains arrow-shaped ‘pointers’ that can only have been man-made;” and “some small square stones have tongue and grooved joints.”

Mr. Menzies, considered an outlier in both camps, believes ancient Chinese explorers anchored here and built the road as a slipway to repair a ship.

In 2022, British author Graham Hancock appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast to discuss the road. He said it was artificially “propped up” and “leveled out” with smaller rocks. “When you dive on it,” he told Mr. Rogan, “it’s impossible to believe it’s entirely the work of nature.”

And there have been accounts that got their wires crossed.

Stones ranging from 7 to 13 feet in width pave the underwater road at North Bimini. (FtLaud/Shutterstock)
Stones ranging from 7 to 13 feet in width pave the underwater road at North Bimini. FtLaud/Shutterstock

Ironically, both Wikipedia and Mr. Menzies offer polar opposite arguments but cite the same man.

Mr. Menzies noted David Zink, who explored Bimini Road in 1974, mentioning “small stones” under the larger ones being a second layer beneath the Bimini Road. Wikipedia also cited Mr. Zink but with a reversal: the conclusion about this second layer “was likely incorrect.”

Amid all the clashing, we managed to obtain exclusive insight into the debacle.

Bimini Road, also called Bimini Wall, is believed to have been built to protect a prehistoric settlement from waves. (FtLaud/Shutterstock)
Bimini Road, also called Bimini Wall, is believed to have been built to protect a prehistoric settlement from waves. FtLaud/Shutterstock

Psychologist Greg Little, author of “Edgar Cayce’s Atlantis,” revealed to the newspaper another flip-flop. He claims to have evidence of scientists altering core samples to support that Bimini Road was naturally formed. He says they admitted being pressured to do so by “all the craziness” surrounding Bimini Road, that it was “done for fun,” and it was done “to make a good story.”

To verify Mr. Little’s claims, the scientist in question was contacted directly who replied they were “not going to nit-pick over Little’s concerns.”

If true, the claim raises questions: Why would the orthodoxy mislead? What do they stand to gain by disproving ancient man’s involvement in the creation of Bimini Road?

This was posed to Mr. Little, who drew on psychology to explain:

“All contradictions to their beliefs are probably perceived as a direct threat to them professionally and psychologically,“ he said. ”The long history of science has countless examples of widely held beliefs that were proven wrong by research. But even in the face of incontrovertible proof that these beliefs were wrong, many so-called scientists refused to accept the new evidence.”

As for Bimini Road—whether it’s case-closed, as the “consensus” says, or mysterious as ever—there’s perhaps a way to know: Visit Bimini Road. Swim the crystal blue waters. Witness its wonders yourself with your eyes. For the Silo via Michael Wing & friends at theepochtimes.com.

Fossil Shows Canada Had 400 Day Long Year

Haldimand and Norfolk Counties in Ontario, Canada have become an attractive area to explore for marine fossils.

The Great Lakes Basin, once inundated by a vast ancient, shallow sea that covered much of central North America, is today revealing an abundance of fossil corals, invertebrates, and marine organisms found within many limestone formations uncovered by glaciers and erosion.

Haldimand and Norfolk County have especially become an attractive area to explore for fossils of marine organisms by both scientists and amateur fossil collectors who can travel to local locations such as Rock Point Provincial Park near Dunnville, Ontario.

However, these fossils represent more than just evidence of unique life forms that once numbered in the tens of thousands of species co-existing in a marine ecosystem. They are scientific evidence of marine ecosystems in ecological transition, shifting continents, changing climates, and a record of our planets’ every day rotation around the sun.

Many fossil corals found in Haldimand and Norfolk County date around 410 to 360 million years ago. It is a time geologically known as the “Devonian Period”, the “Devonian Reef” or the “Age of Fishes”. During this period, fishes of many different species became abundant in the fossil record. A partly submerged North America, or as yet to be formed Great Lakes Basin, was colliding with Europe close to the equator. Reef building environments began to develop and produce some of the largest reef complexes in the world.

The reef complexes were in large areas of shallow equatorial seas that existed between the continents.

Evidence of a saltwater sea supporting a vast coral reef system once covering southern Ontario over 400 million years ago in the form of fossilized coral deposits support the theory that a coral reef system existed for a very long time. It was in the basins of these former shallow seas that great quantities of rock salt, gypsum, and other types of minerals precipitated, and today, mining industries dig well below the lowest depths of Lake Erie to recover these minerals.

The “Heliophylum halli” is a fossil particular to the Great Lakes region and studies of its growth rings revealed 400 days in one Earth year when this coral was alive.

Exposure of reef basins varies and depends on how glaciers or water erosion has pushed or washed soil off bedrock. Under these conditions, a geologist’s field magnifying glass can help find very small fossils such as radiolarians and diatoms. Otherwise, larger fossils such as different varieties of bivalves (clams), trilobites, and even large fragments of fossilized coral are exposed. In some case, there are discoveries of fossilized marine organisms that are both rare and some times difficult to identify.

The fossilized remains of a Devonian Reef. Rock Point Provincial Park, Ontario.ROCK POINT PROVINCIAL PARK (Dunnville) - 2022 What to Know BEFORE You Go

What ended these reef complexes and created one of the greatest mass extinction events of earth’s biota was a combination of events that took place over a period of 25 million years.

Since species rely on a warm water marine ecosystem for their survival it would seem that a slow and gradual continental shift north from the equator would over time impact a large variety of marine species, including those supported by coral reefs. Therefore, events such as shifting continents, lowering of sea levels, climatic changes influencing land and sea ecologies, and/or possibly a glaciation had significant roles in the extinction of earth’s biodiversity.

Devonian Period - Geology Page
The large deposits of fossil corals and invertebrates found in Norfolk and Haldimand County has been of great interest to scientists and fossil collectors for many decades. However, fossil collecting took on a new importance in the last 50-60 years when it was determined there was a connection between growth rings of coral skeletons with the number of days in a year.

Scientists studying samples of coral skeletons from contemporary coral reef systems discovered growth rings on the outer surface of coral skeletons.

By studying a large sample of coral skeletons and determining how many growth rings represented a year’s growth of calcium carbonate, scientists were able to calculate an average of 360 rings per year. Thereby, approximately one growth ring represented one day’s growth for each day of the year. Taking this new information, scientists began collecting large numbers of exceptionally well-preserved coral fossils belonging to the Late Devonian Period. One particular species, found in the Great Lakes region, called a “Heliophylum halli” (see above) exhibited many growth rings developing in one year during this period. The result surprised even scientists.

Fossil coral showed there were approximately 400 growth rings per year 370 million years ago. Therefore, there were about 400 days in a year in the Devonian Period. Astronomers who have calculated that our earth’s rotation has been slowing at a rate of about 2 seconds every 100,000 years have since supported the new information.

Exposures of ancient reef basins can be discovered in dried up stream beds and even under farmers fields.

Despite Haldimand and Norfolk County being a small example of a region once holding a thriving coral reef system, existing over 400 million years ago, the number of fossils of different species exposed is vast. Fossil corals, invertebrates, and species of marine organisms exist in many different shapes, sizes, and can be very fragile. Therefore, whether you are a scientist or amateur fossil collector, the next time you take a walk across the landscape to explore and search for fossils be sure to take along a fossil guide. You never know what new fossil discoveries you might make just walking across the countryside for an afternoon. For the Silo, Lorenz Bruechert.

Natural World Immediacy A Rare Concept

Immediacy? “Nothing important comes into being overnight; even grapes or figs need time to ripen. If you say that you want a fig now, I will tell you to be patient. First, you must allow the tree to flower, then put forth fruit; then you have to wait until the fruit is ripe. So if the fruit of a fig tree is not brought to maturity instantly or in an hour, how do you expect the human mind to come to fruition, so quickly and easily?” -Epictetus

The Worm (2008) and Watershort (2008) are time-contemplative short films by Canadian sound and visual artist Jarrod Barker.

In the natural world, immediacy is rarely a concept. While it is true the Mayfly lives only for a day, it is also true that each fly is one infinitesimal link in the long succession of the species. As humans have increasingly stepped beyond the boundaries of nature, we have begun to forget the importance of waiting and patience. We live surrounded by cheap treasures gotten easily and quickly. But like the Mayfly, these spoils of instant gratification perish quickly leaving us desiring more. No longer do we answer to the rhythm of nature, preferring instead to force the world to step up to our breakneck pace. All the while we are saturated with reminders that “good things come to those who wait” but too often choose to ignore this time tested wisdom.

Stefan Klein works in Berlin. Presently he is examining the concept of waiting. To this end, he has conducted quite a lot of field research. Waiting, he says, “is something that’s so routinely existing in our daily lives but at the same time has this very existential dimension to it so that almost everybody can relate to it but at the same time it’s a very abstract topic.” Another project, titled Introduction to Microeconomics is a book documenting Klein’s repeated ordering and return of a book by the same name. In this way, he examined documentation as a vital element of a whole work. Much of Klein’s work investigates complex systems through performative means. In September, Klein will begin a series of waiting sessions with people from various disciplines. He will meet with guests at a bus stop (a place of waiting) for a conversation. His audience will be comprised of both those who came to see the performance and those who happened to be waiting for the bus. In this way, Klein will access waiting from many perspectives.

untitled watercolor Emilie Clark 2015

Emilie Clark is a New York City based artist who spends part of the year in New Hampshire. Much of her work is based on the work of nineteenth-century natural historians and scientists, most of them women. She also explores the literal interpretation of the word ecology (earth’s household) incorporating historical texts and working in the landscape. In New Hampshire, Clark works in a floating research station surrounded by the natural world. In New York City her experience is quite different though she has noticed similarities in plant species between the two locations. From her research station, Clark collects specimens, makes sound recordings, draws, paints, preserves, and fully immerses herself in nature. This process is rooted not only in creating but in learning.

Brainard Carey

A Few Words to Keep in your Pocket

A work of art, a career, a relationship, anything worth investing our hearts and minds in, must be given time. We must relearn to wait, to fall back in step with the world around us. For the Silo, Brainard Carey.

Brainard  is currently giving free webinars on how to write a better Artist bio and statement and how to get a show in a gallery – you can register for that live webinar and ask questions live by clicking here.