Bimini Road

The Bimini Road is an underwater rock formation near North Bimini island in the Bahamas. The Road consists of approximately one half-mile of limestone blocks, lying in a semi-rectangular pattern, with the blocks themselves appearing to be roughly rectangular in shape.

Discovery

On 2 September 1969, [cite web|url=http://www.atlantisquest.com/Bahama.html|title=Bahama Island Underwater Ruins|publisher=Atlantek Software Inc.|author=R. Cedric Leonard|date=2008|accessdate=2008-05-01] while diving in three fathoms of water off the northwest coast of North Bimini island, Dr. J. Manson Valentine, Honorary Curator at the Miami Science Museum, encountered "an extensive pavement of rectangular and polygonal flat stones of varying size and thickness."cite journal
last=Valentine |first= J. Manson
title=Archaeological Enigmas of Florida and the Western Bahamas
journal=Muse News
publisher=Miami Science Museum
date=June 1969]

The edges of the stone blocks had been rounded off by long years of water erosion, so that the stones resembled giant loaves of bread. Most were rectangular, but some stones approached a perfect square. Many were 10 to 15 feet in length, while others were much smaller. Where sand had washed away between the seams, another deeper layer of blocks was visible.

Valentine found the stones to be composed of native oolitic limestone, typical of Bahama reef or beachrock. The general direction of the feature is northeast-southwest, lying roughly parallel to the island coast, and extended for approximately one-third of a mile.

Geological explanations

Geologist Eugene Shinn, while still an employee of the U.S. Geological Survey in Miami did his own analysis of the rocks and concluded that they are "beach rock", a form of limestone that forms along the tidal areas of the shoreline.cite web
url=http://www.csicop.org/si/2004-01/geologists-adventures.html
author=Shinn, Eugene
date=2004
title=Exploration and analysis of the road
publisher=Committee for Skeptical Inquiry] He asserts:
* The geometry of the formation conforms to older shorelines of the island.
* Core samples taken from several rocks reveal that they formed in place because layers of stratification have identical orientation
* Similar formations are found throughout the Bahamas
* The age of the rocks is 2,000 to 4,000 years old cite journal
year=1980|month=
title=Bahamian Atlantis reconsidered
journal=Nature|volume=|issue=287|pages=11–12|accessdate= 2007-07-28 ]

Another explanation is that the "road" is an example of tessellated pavement, a natural phenomenon. Concretions of shell and sand form hard sedimentary rock which over time fractures in straight lines and then at ninety degree angles. They are quite common and a popular tourist attraction in Tasmania;cite web
title=Eaglehawk Neck
url=http://walkabout.com.au/locations/TASEaglehawkNeck.shtml
publisher= [http://walkabout.com.au Walkabout Australia] ] some also can be seen on the coast of Venezuela.cite web
title=Bimini Road
date=2008
url=http://www.bcskeptics.info/resources/skeptopaedia/index.cgi?key=bimini%20road.html
publisher= [http://www.bcskeptics.info BC Skeptics] ]

In 1971 Jacques-Yves Cousteau investigated the Great Blue Hole off Belize and also a similar cave system off Andros Island, near Bimini. cite book
title=Galapagos - Titicaca - The Blue Holes
date=1973
author=Jacques-Yves Cousteau
publisher=Cassell
location=London] Both of these revealed classic Karst limestone cave systems, formed before rises in sea level of at least 400 feet. Although Cousteau did not investigate the Bimini Road itself, these observations support the possibility that the Road may be another example of submerged limestone pavement. Note that although similar in composition, the limestones studied by Cousteau were far older than the beachrock reported by Shinn. His son, Philippe, did investigate the Bimini Road and questioned whether notions of this being a man made structure were contrived.Fact|date=May 2008

Claims of a human origin

Although it is generally considered to be a naturally occurring geological feature, as a result of the unusual arrangement and shape of the stones, some believe the formation is an ancient road, wall or the remains of some other deliberately constructed structure. An article written for a popular magazine by Robert F. Marx, a marine archeologist who dove on the site, announced that Dr. Carl Holm, head geologist for North American Rockwell, stated that there was "little doubt" that the massive stone blocks were cut by people.cite journal
author=Marx, Robert F., & Rebikoff, Dimitri
title=Atlantis at Last?
journal=Argosy
volume=Vol. 369
issue=No. 6
date=December 1969] [Marx, Robert, “Atlantis: the legend is becoming fact," "Argosy" magazine, Vol. 373, No. 5, November 1971.]

Others who consider the Bimini undersea formation to be man-made, as opposed to natural beachrock, are Dr. J. Manson Valentine, zoologist, [Valentine, J. Manson, “Archaeological Enigmas of Florida and the Western Bahamas,” "Muse News", Vol. 1, No. 2, June 1969.] Charles Berlitz, linguist, [Berlitz, Charles, “Atlantis: the Eighth Continent,” G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1984.] Dr. Gregory Little, psychologist, [Little Greg, "ARE's Search for Atlantis," (DVD) ATA Productions, 4004.] Dr. R. Cedric Leonard, anthropologist. [Leonard, R. Cedric, “Quest for Atlantis,” Manor Books, New York, 1979.] and Prof. Dimitri Rebikoff, underwater archaeologist. [Rebikoff, Dimitri, “Precision Underwater Photomosaic Techniques for Archaeological Mapping; Interim Experiment on the Bimini ‘Cyclopean’ Complex,” "International Journal of Nautical Archaeology and Underwater Exploration", Vol. 1, 1972, pp. 184-186.] All have investigated the ruins in person, and claim to have observed more than one horizontal layer of blocks, at least in places.

ci Fi Channel Presentation

Sci-Fi’s “Quest for Atlantis: Startling New Secrets”cite journal
title=Quest for Atlantis: Startling New Secrets
journal=Sci Fi Channel
date=(aired July 2006)] followed several different groups researching possible locations for the legendary Atlantis, one of which focused on the Bimini Road. Dr. Greg Little led a team of researchers on a dive to recover objects at Bimini Bay. Little and his team made a discovery: an entire second layer of square-cut rocks with similar dimensions beneath the stones of the Bimini Road.cite web
author=Dr. Greg Little
date=2007
url=http://www.mysterious-america.net/bimini2007.html
title=Bimini
publisher= [http://www.mysterious-america.net Mysterious America .net] ] Dr. Little believes that his discovery suggests the Bimini Road may actually be one part of an entire wall or water dock. He has also published a critiquecite web
author=Dr. Greg Little
date=December 2004
url=http://www.mysterious-america.net/biminibeachrock.html
title=More Adventures With Bimini Beachrock: Remarkable Blunders in a Purported Scholarly Report Debunking the Bimini Stones
publisher= [http://www.mysterious-america.net Mysterious America .net] ] of Shinn's report . The Bimini Road was also discussed in season 1, episode 10 of the TV series In Search Of.

References

Further reading

* cite journal
last= Harrison|first= W.
year=1971
title=Atlantis undiscovered: Bimini, Bahamas
journal=Nature|volume=230|issue=|pages=287–289
accessdate= 2007-07-28
doi=10.1038/230287a0
* cite journal
author=Gifford, J.A. and Ball, M.M.
date=1980
title=Investigation of submerged beachrock deposits off Bimini
journal=National Geographic Society Research Reports
issue=12
pages=pp. 21–38

External links

* [http://www.altarcheologie.nl/index.html?underwater_ruins/bimini/gallery.htm Photographs] on altarcheologie.nl
* cite web
url=http://www.edgarcayce.org/am/biminiandrosvide.html
title=Video Clips of The Bimini Road and Andros Platform: Manmade or Natural Formations?
format=video
publisher= [http://www.edgarcayce.org/ Edgar Cayce .org]

ee also

* 1421 hypothesis
* Atlantis
* Bermuda Triangle
* Great Blue Hole
* Yonaguni