Just when we think we have explored the surface, things hidden beneath the surface baffle researchers, scientists and explorers who have a tough time separating facts from fantasy. One such enigma is hidden under almost a 100-feet underwater in Okinawa, Japan. Strange and majestic structures in stone with terraces, hexagonal columns, blocks and walls constructed at right angles and an underwater road encircling eight separate sites.

Did humans make these ruined castles and all the interesting structures, which also include a step pyramid further south, near the small island of Yunaguni? But scientists do not agree fully that these interesting underwater wonders are all manmade.

Which is not really surprising.

Anything that changes previously thought theories or calculations are difficult to change unless some very hard evidence is available. To accept the idea that a certain area which has not been above the ocean since the last Ice Age, which, according to experts, could not have such sophisticated structures as humans at that time, between 8 or 10 thousand years ago, did not have such precision tools to construct such megalithic structures, needs a completely different angle in scientific thinking.

Why are we not open to hidden truths when they come to light? Perhaps because it makes us uncomfortable to accept change.

But knowledge can only come with thinking out of the box and opening up our minds. If a pyramid found underwater was probably constructed 5,000 years before the pyramids in Egypt and the Saqqara Step Pyramid, then the mystery also lies in the fact that when did humans first start building pyramids? And who were these people who supposedly were so advanced when the rest of mankind were gathering food and running around killing something for dinner, and how did they have such intelligence and expertise?

Scuba divers discovered the pyramid 10 years ago but professor Masaki Kimura, who is a geologist from the Ryukyu University in Okinawa, took upon himself to discover the structure. He concluded that site was not natural but man-made. He thinks that it could possibly be some sort of religious shrine. Locals believe that the monument or pyramid was made to honour the ancient god of Okinawa, the god of happiness.

The only thing that experts do agree on is that if it is man-made then it must have required a very high degree of technological advancement, and since it is believed that Japan’s first civilisations can be traced back to 9000BC when the people there were just hunters for food, who then built these?

Geologists think that the culture seems came from the Asian continent and one underwater sphinx looks like an ancient king.

It is even thought by some locals in the area that this could be the remains of the fabled lost continent ‘Mu’, which is the Japanese version of something like Atlantis.

The city is thought to have sunk due to one of the earthquakes and tsunamis that are a frequent occurrence in the region. But other scientists think that there is nothing manmade about the structure and that it is the result of natural erosion and rock formations.

The waters in the region are not one of the very friendliest. The currents are dangerous, not forgetting the sharks that abound there. But Professor Kimura seems undeterred to unravel the wonders of this underwater wonder. He stated in a scientific conference that the largest structure looked like a complicated monolithic step pyramid that rises from a depth of 82 feet.

On the other hand a professor of science and mathematics from Boston University, Robert Schoch is of the opinion that these are all natural features and feels that since the area has a lot of tectonic activity and fault lines, these natural formations could have these kind of sharp erosions in stones underwater. But the strange part of the entire scenario is that neither the Japanese nor any other government has carried out any formal research of these hidden underwater structures.

One wonders why. Could it be due to the fact that it would be too much to change the already accepted notion of when and how mankind became civilised and when they started using sophisticated tools? The only people interested are independent researchers and anthropologists. Professor Kimura also recovered some carved characters and animal figures in the stone and tested them in his laboratory.

Even though Kimura is a regular diver at the site, he feels more research and investigation of these underwater structures should be done. As Aristotle said, “Therefore, even the lover of myth is in a sense a philosopher; for myth is composed of wonders.”