TOP MOST STRANGEST THINGS DISCOVERED FROM BOTTOM OF THE SEA

There are a lot of weird things in the ocean, really weird things. Whether they belong there or not, the sheer volume of strange discoveries that have been recovered from the sea is mind-boggling, and it grows day by day. Here's a list of some of the most unique.

                     Greece's Ancient Computer

The Antikythera mechanism is one of the most amazing discoveries of the present age, despite being in the ocean for thousands of years. The oldest known complex gear mechanism, its uses are unclear, but it's sometimes called the first analog computer due to its sheer complexity in construction. Believed to be designed to predict lunar and solar eclipses based on Babylonian arithmetic progression cycles, the true function of the mechanism remains a mystery. It was discovered in 1900.

                            Apollo 11's Engines

In March of 2013, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos apparently decided that it was time to do something completely insane, albeit fascinating, and went about recovering the engines that were used in the takeoff of Apollo 11. They'd had been lying at the bottom of the ocean since the craft's launch in 1969. The modern age artifacts were recovered in secret, and remained cloistered until they could be positively identified as being from the legendary flight. The two engines and parts that were recovered are currently being restored before they go on display at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center.

                            An Ancient City

How do you lose a whole city? Surprisingly, it happens more often than you might think. With sea levels constantly rising thanks to melting ice caps and other factors, losing cities to the sea is an unfortunate fact of history. Thankfully, today's technology allows us to rediscover and study these underwater ruins. One of the most notable examples exists off the coast of Egypt. The city of Thonis, known as Heracleion to the ancient Greeks, has a foundation that dates back over a thousand years. Parts of the ancient city have been excavated and the quality of the materials recovered gives us a glimpse into its past importance and wealth. We might not have been able to pull it out of the water in its entirety, but finding it at all after believing that it was lost to history forever is definitely recovery enough. It was discovered in 2000.

                            Doomed Emeralds

Jay Miscovish of Key West, Florida bought a treasure map from a friend in a bar in 2010. Part-time treasure hunter and amateur diver, Miscovich went on to discover a multimillion dollar fortune in emeralds deep in the Gulf off Florida. The exact origin of the emeralds is still unknown, but when a 60 Minutes segment on the find hit the public airwaves, it got the attention of federal investigators. The stress of waiting for the big payoff from his discovery, which was more than 80 pounds of emeralds, and the prospect of dealing with a federal investigation just for believing in buried treasure led Miscovich to take his own life. Maybe it's best sometimes to let the treasure sit.

                Lazarus Fish: The Coelacanth

Believed to have gone extinct 65 million years ago, a living specimen of the coelacanth was discovered in 1938 while a marine biologist trawled through a local fisherman's catch off the coast of Africa. Eventually, a second species was discovered in Indonesia. It was found to be genetically distinct from the original population by millions of years of separation. Unfortunately, the fish has very little value outside its displacement in the fossil record since it is inedible and considered a bad catch by deep sea fishermen today. So don't expect dinofish for dinner any time soon.

                    Pirate Ships and Gunnery

Shiver me timbers. How long have those been there? In 1718, the legendary pirate known as Blackbeard was forced to sink his ship after it was stranded in shallow water off the coast of Beaufort. In 1966, the ruins of Queen Anne's Revenge were discovered in the water; it was a wreck with thousands of artifacts. In 2013, North Carolina's Department of Cultural Resources whipped out the big guns, literally, pulling a set of cannons weighing more than 2000 pounds apiece from the depths. All in all, twenty different cannons have been recovered thus far, with the recovery set to conclude in 2014.

                        Sharks, Old and New

A two-month fishing expedition to the Indian Ocean in 2012 brought hundreds of sharks up from the depths, including at least eight new species. Paul Clerkin, a shark ecology graduate student at California's Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, headed up the expedition and was thrilled with the results. "They don't look like the classic great whites you'll see on Shark Week," he said in an interview with NBC news. Considering that one has a serrated spine coming out of its back, that's an understatement. But maybe we can… leave the rest of them down there. They're kind of creepy.

                       Jurassic Microbes 

With nature's habit of constantly one-upping itself, it shouldn't come as a surprise that there was something hiding in the ocean for even longer than the coelacanth. In 2012, microbes from the Jurassic era were discovered in deep sea water. They were barely alive. With nothing to eat for 86 million years, and barely enough oxygen to sustain metabolism, it's hard to believe that these things could still be alive, but that “barely” is more than enough to name these little guys the oldest living organisms on the planet.

                  Lost Silver of the Third Reich 

Over 61 tons of silver worth $36 million was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean. Along with being a world record for treasure discovered in one location, it turns out that the shipwreck was Britain's SS Gairsoppa, a cargo ship that sank in 1941 when it was torpedoed by Nazis. The vessel sank nearly 300 miles off the coast of Ireland, and was believed to be lost forever. As of the summer of 2012, Odyssey Marine Exploration of Tampa, Florida claimed to have recovered about 20 percent of the total silver indicated by research to be on board. The total is believed to be close to 240 tons.

                          The Mythic Kraken

No list of weird undersea discoveries would be complete without the giant tentacled beast of legend. Known to exist from bodies recovered by fishermen and those that have washed up on shore for centuries – some over 40 feet in length – the first observation of a living specimen of the giant squid was made in 2001 with a larval specimen. Footage of a living adult wouldn't be achieved until 2012, showcased on the Discovery Channel's “Chasing Giants: On the Trail of the Giant Squid.”

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TOP TEN SECRETS OF DEEP OCEAN

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  Mark Spear / Woods Hole Oceanogr
  The oceans cover more than 70 percent of the earth's surface, yet their depths remain largely unknown. It's a frontier that scientists are racing to explore using tools such as the deep-ocean submersible Alvin, shown here. Click the "Next" arrow above to learn about 10 deep-ocean secrets that have come to light.

• Deep-ocean octopuses have Antarctic origins

  
  

  Census of Marine Life
  Many deep ocean octopuses trace their origins back to relatives that swam in the waters around Antarctica. The migration began about 30 million years ago when the continent cooled and large ice sheets grew, forcing octopuses there into ever deeper waters. The climate shift also created a northbound flow of deep, cold water that carried the cephalopods to new habitats. As they adapted to new niches, new species evolved. Many lost their defensive ink sacs because the pitch-black ocean depths required no camouflage screen. The species known as Megaleledon setebos, shown here, is the closest living relative of the deep-sea octopuses' common ancestor.

• 'Brittlestar City' found on undersea mountain

  
  

  Census Of Marine Life / AP
  The orange and red starfish relatives called brittlestars have managed to defy the odds and colonize the flanks of a giant, underwater peak on the Macquarie Ridge, an 870-mile-long underwater mountain range that stretches south from New Zealand to just short of the Antarctic Circle. The peak, known as a seamount, juts up into a swirling circumpolar current that flows by at 2.5 miles per hour, delivering ample food for the brittlestars to grab while sweeping away fish and other would-be predators. Another brittlestar species has settled on the seamount's flat summit, a habitat normally settled by corals and sponges.

• Deep Antarctic waters, cradle of marine life

  
  

  Wiebke Brokeland / GCMB
  This pale crustacean from the genus Cylindrarcturus is one of more than 700 species new to science found scurrying, scampering and swimming in the frigid waters between 2,000 and 21,000 feet below the surface of the Weddell Sea off Antarctica. The discoveries were part of a research project to determine how species at different depths are related to each other there, and to other creatures around the world. "The Antarctic deep sea is potentially the cradle of life of the global marine species," team leader Angelika Brandt, an expert from the Zoological Institute and Zoological Museum at the University of Hamburg, said in a statement announcing the discoveries.

• Northernmost black smokers discovered

  
  

  Credit: Center for Geobiology/U. of Bergen
  Scientists working deep inside the Arctic Circle have discovered a cluster of five hydrothermal vents, also known as black smokers, which spew out liquid as hot as 570 degrees Fahrenheit. The vents are 120 miles further north than the closest known vents, which tend to occur where the seafloor spreads apart at a quicker pace. This image shows the arm of a remotely operated vehicle reaching out to sample fluids billowing from the top three feet of the tallest vent, which reaches four stories off the seafloor. The chimney is covered with white bacteria that feast on the freshly delivered minerals.

• Black smoker fossils hint at life's beginnings

  
  

  Timothy Kusky / Gondwana Research
  The discovery of primitive bacteria on 1.43 billion-year-old black-smoker fossils – a crosscut is shown here – unearthed from a Chinese mine adds weight to the idea that life may have originated in deep-sea hydrothermal vents, according to geologist Timothy Kusky at Saint Louis University. The ancient microbe dined on metal sulfide that lined the fringes of the chimneys. The oldest-known life forms on Earth are 3.5 billion-year-old clumps of bacteria found in Western Australia. That find suggested that shallow seas, not the deep oceans, were the birthplace of life. Neither discovery, however, serves as the definitive answer about life's origins.
  
  

• Microbes feast on ocean-bottom crust

  
  

  NOAA/WHOI
  Once thought barren and sparsely populated, the deep-ocean floor is home to rich and diverse communities of bacteria. In fact, scientists have found that the seafloor contains three to four times more bacteria than the waters above, raising the question of how the organisms survive. Lab analyses suggest that chemical reactions with the rocks themselves provide the fuel for life. The discovery is another tantalizing hint that life could have originated in the ocean depths. In a statement about the find, the University of Southern California's Katrina Edwards said: "I hope that people turn their heads and notice: There's life down there."

• Where do deep-sea fish go to spawn?

  
  

  Harbor Branch / E.widder
  Life in the dark, cold and vast depths of the sea was long thought to be lonely for the few fish that dared eke out an existence there, mostly from organic detritus that sinks from shallower waters. That picture began to change in 2006, when researchers probing the Mid-Atlantic Ridge discovered that fishes may occasionally gather at features such as seamounts to spawn. The evidence for these gatherings comes from the sheer volume of fish collected at seamounts – much higher than would have been expected if the fish were purely nomadic wanderers. What's more, images made from acoustical "scatterings" are suggestive of a massive fish aggregation. The 35-pound anglerfish shown here is one of the rare species hauled up from the deep during the project.

• Colossal squid has, well, colossal eyes

  
  

  Ross Setford / AP
  What did you expect? Would a colossal squid have anything but eyes big enough to generate a few over-the-top superlatives? Probably not - but still, when researchers thawed out this squid in New Zealand, the wow factor was undeniable. The creature's eye measured about 11 inches across; its lens was the size of an orange. Scientists suspect the big eye allows the huge squid to capture a lot of light in the dark depths in which it hunts. The squid weighed about 1,000 pounds when caught in the Antarctic's Ross Sea and measured 26 feet long. Scientists believe the species, which can descend to 6,500 feet, may grow as long as 46 feet.

• Deep-sea corals record history

  
  

  Rob Dunba / Stanford University
  Some coral reefs are found thousands of feet below the ocean surface, where they have grown amid frigid waters for millennia. Like tree rings, they serve as a faithful archive of global environmental change, according to Robert Dunbar, a professor of geological and environmental sciences at Stanford University. His team travels the world to collect samples of these corals, such as this one from a colony near Easter Island. In 2007, the team published a 300-year archive of soil erosion in Kenya, as recorded by coral samples collected from the bottom of the Indian Ocean. They are now analyzing 4,000-year-old corals discovered off Hawaii to create an archive of climate change.

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REVEALED SECRETS OF DWARAKA

CONSTRUCTION OF DWARAKA

Interesting descriptions about its construction are found in Puranas:

Fearing attack from Jarasangh and Kaalayvan on Mathura, Shri Krishna and Yadavas left Mathura and arrived at the coast of Saurashtra. They decided to build their capital in the coastal region and invoke the Vishwakarma the deity of construction. However, Vishwakarma says that the task can be completed only if Samudradev, the Lord of the sea provided some land. Shri Krishna worshipped Samudradev, who was pleased and gave them land measuring 12 yojans and the Lord vishwakarma build Dwaraka, a "city in gold".

This beautiful city was also known as Dwaramati, Dwarawati and Kushsthali. Another story says that at the time of the death of Shri Krishna, who was hit by the arrow of a hunter near Somnath at Bhalka Tirth, Dwaraka disappeared in the sea.

The importance of the discovery of Dwaraka lies not merely in providing archaeological evidence needed for corroborating the traditional account of the submergence of Dwaraka but also indirectly fixing the date of the Mahabharata which is a landmark in Indian history. Identical pottery is found in the submerged city of Dwaraka. Thus the results have proved that the account in Mahabharata as to the existence of a beautiful capital city of Dwaraka of Shri Krishna was not a mere figment of imagination but it did exist. Mahabharata War took place on November 22, 3067 BCE and the Bhagavad Gita was compiled around 500 BCE.

SUBMERGENCE OF DWARAKA

After Shri Krishna left for the heavenly abode, and the major Yadava heads were killed in fights among themselves; Arjuna went to Dwarka to bring Krishna's grandsons and the Yadava wives to Hastinapur. After Arjun left Dwaraka, it was submerged in the sea. This is the account given by Arjuna, in Mahabharat:

"The sea, which had been beating against the shores, suddenly broke the boundary that was imposed on it by nature. The sea rushed into the city. It coursed through the streets of the beautiful city. The sea covered up everything in the city. I saw the beautiful buildings becoming submerged one by one. In a matter of a few moments it was all over. The sea had now become as placid as a lake. There was no trace of the city. Dwaraka was just a name; just a memory."

The town has association with Shri Krishna, who founded this town by reclaiming 12 yojanas of land from the sea. During its glorious past, Dwaraka was a city of beautiful gardens, deep moats, and several ponds and palaces (Vishnu Purana), but it is believed to have submerged just after the disappearance of Shri Krishna.

Due to its historical importance and association with the Mahabharata, Dwaraka continues to attract archeologists and historians besides scientists.

                                                                

DISCOVERY OF DWARAKA

Excavations at Dwaraka helped add credence to the legend of Krishna and the Mahabharata war, as well as provide ample evidence of the advanced societies that lived in these areas such as the Harappan settlements.

The Dwarakadhisa Temple prompted the setting up of a Marine Archaeology Unit (MAU) jointly by the National Institute of Oceanography and the Archaeological Survey of India. Under the guidance of Dr. Rao, a great marine archaeologist, a team consisting of expert underwater explorers, trained diver-photographers and archaeologists was formed. The technique of geophysical survey was combined with the use of echo-sounders, mud-penetrators, sub-bottom profilers and underwater metal detectors. This team carried out 12 marine archaeological expeditions between 1983 to 1992 and articles and antiquities recovered were sent to Physical Research Laboratory for dating. By using thermo-luminescence, carbon dating and other modern scientific techniques, the artifacts were found to belong to the period between 15th to 18th century B.C. In his great work, The Lost City of Dwaraka, Dr. Rao has given scientific details of these discoveries and artifacts.

A circular stone structure exposed during low tide off Dwarka.

Between 1983 to 1990, the well-fortified township of Dwaraka was discovered, extending more than half mile from the shore. The township was built in six sectors along the banks of a river. The foundation of boulders on which the city's walls were erected proves that the land was reclaimed from the sea. The general layout of the city of Dwaraka described in ancient texts agrees with that of the submerged city discovered by the MAU.

According to the discoveries, Dwaraka was a prosperous city in ancient times, which was destroyed and reconstructed several times. The work of great excavators like Z.D. Ansari and M.S. Mate allowed chance discovery of temples of the 9th century A.D. and 1st century A.D. buried near the present Dwaraka.

Conclusions arrived at after carrying out these underwater archaeological explorations support and validate the dates arrived at through astronomical calculations. They also prove that the reconstructed city was a prosperous port town, and that it was in existence for about 60-70 years in the 15th century B.C. before being submerged under the sea in the year 1443 B.C.                                    

                                    

Significant finds at Dwaraka

Ancient structures, under water and on land, discovered

THE QUEST: An underwater archaeologist of the ASI examines an ancient structure off the shore of Dwaraka; a circular structure on the shore at Dwaraka; fragment of an ancient structure found underwater; remains of an ancient structure in the forecourt of the Dwarakadhish temple.

Ancient structural remains of some significance have been discovered at Dwaraka, under water and on land, by the Underwater Archaeology Wing (UAW) of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Alok Tripathi, Superintending Archaeologist, UAW, said the ancient underwater structures found in the Arabian Sea were yet to be identified. "We have to find out what they are. They are fragments. I would not like to call them a wall or a temple. They are part of some structure," said Dr. Tripathi, himself a trained diver.

Thirty copper coins were also found in the excavation area. The structures found on land belonged to the medieval period. "We have also found 30 copper coins. We are cleaning them. After we finish cleaning them, we can give their date," he said.

Dwaraka is a coastal town in Jamnagar district of Gujarat. Traditionally, modern Dwaraka is identified with Dvaraka or Dvaravati, mentioned in the Mahabharata as Krishna's city. Dwaraka was a port, and some scholars have identified it with the island of Barka mentioned in the Periplus of Erythrean Sea. Ancient Dwaraka sank in sea and hence is an important archaeological site.

The first archaeological excavations at Dwaraka were done by the Deccan College, Pune and the Department of Archaeology, Government of Gujarat, in 1963 under the direction of H.D. Sankalia. It revealed artefacts many centuries old.

The ASI conducted a second round of excavations in 1979 under S.R. Rao's direction. He found a distinct pottery known as lustrous red ware, which could be more than 3,000 years old. Based on the results of these excavations, the search for the sunken city in the Arabian Sea began in 1981. Scientists and archaeologists have continually worked on the site for 20 years.

The UAW began excavations at Dwaraka again from January 2007. Dr. Tripathi said: "To study the antiquity of the site in a holistic manner, excavations are being conducted simultaneously both on land [close to the Dwarakadhish temple] and undersea so that finds from both the places can be co-related and analysed scientifically."

The objective of the excavation is to know the antiquity of the site, based on material evidence. In the offshore excavation, the ASI's trained underwater archaeologists and the divers of the Navy searched the sunken structural remains. The finds were studied and documented.

On land, the excavation is being done in the forecourt of the Dwarakadhish temple. Students from Gwalior, Lucknow, Pune, Vadodara,Varanasi and Bikaner are helping ASI archaeologists. In the forecourt, old structures including a circular one have been found. A small cache of 30 copper coins was discovered.

Dwaraka - World's first underwater heritage museum

Old shipwrecks-like that of the Titanic-which have been lying buried under the sea with their precious treasure along with the submerged city of Dwarka off the Gujarat coast, for centuries, could soon vie for the status of an underwater world cultural heritage site. Over 200 experts from 84 countries, who gathered under the aegis of UNESCO in Paris recently to examine a draft convention on the issue, unanimously agreed that underwater cultural heritage was in urgent need of protection from destruction and pillaging. The submerged city of Dwarka is believed to be an important site having both historical and cultural value for Bharat. Legend has it that the remains-the wall of a city is clearly visible while the rest is yet to be discovered-are in fact, that of the ancient city of Dwarka mentioned in stories of Shri Krishna.

The proposed underwater museum at Dwaraka, the first of its kind in the world, and a marine archaeology museum will throw more light on the Indus Valley civilisation and enable researchers to peep into the history of the lost city of the Mahabharata era.

The Marine Archaeology Centre and the National Institute of Oceanography have jointly submitted a proposal with technical details for the preservation of the site to the Gujarat government. As per the proposal, marine acrylic tubes would be laid through which visitors could pass and view the remains of the historic city from windows. Acrylic walls could also be made which could be accessed by boats. Dwaraka, the submerged city in the Arabian Sea, off the Gujarat coast, is well connected with the other parts of the country.

The entire nation and even foreign countries are anxiously waiting for the preservation of the submerged city, which is not only of historical importance, but also of emotional interest since its founder was Shri Krishna.

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