Discovery of underwater 'pyramid' could rewrite history as scientists claim it could predate Egyptian landmarks by thousands of years
There are many, many mysteries that are yet to be solved scattered across the globe; one being the Yonaguni Monument.
Located in Japan, the Yonaguni Monument is a pyramid-like structure that sits 25 meters below the ocean's surface.
It got its name as it's located by the Japanese island of Yonaguni and was first discovered back in 1987.
Local diver Kihachiro Aratake stumbled across the ruins 'by pure coincidence'.
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"I was very emotional when I found it," he previously told the BBC of the huge discovery.
"Upon discovering it, I realized that this would become a treasure of Yonaguni island. I kept it a secret. I didn't tell anyone on my staff."
But it didn't remain a secret for very long as a team of scientists quickly swooped in to start investigating the mysterious structure.
The pyramid is believed to date back around 10,000 years, which has left researches baffled as the structure appears to have been man-made as it boasts what looks to be stairs and flat terraces.
With this in mind, some have argued that the Yonaguni Monument (also referred to as 'Japan's Atlantis') predates the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge.
The pyramids are believed to date back around 4,500 years, while Stonehenge was built around 5,000 years ago, says English Heritage.
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But archaeologists are struggling to agree on how old the Japan-based structure is and if it was man-made.
For example, on a 2024 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience Graham Hancock and archaeologist Flint Dibble butted heads over the ongoing debate.
"I’ve seen a lot of crazy natural stuff and I see nothing here that to me reminds me of human architecture," Dibble argued at the time.
Hancock retorted: "To me, Flint, it’s stunning that you see that as a totally natural thing, but I guess we’ve just got very different eyes."
He continued, as per New York Post: "If this really was built by a mysterious civilization more than 10,000 years ago, it would place Yonaguni in the same league as Göbekli Tepe in Turkey - one of the oldest known man-made structures, dated to around 9500 BC."
Japanese marine geologist Masaaki Kimura agrees with Hancock's sentiments that the monument wasn't created naturally and also thinks the Yonaguni Monument could be up there as one of the oldest man-made structures in history.
Speaking in 2007, Kimura suggested at the time that the monument was 6,000 years old.
But, like Flint, Kimura first thought that the pyramid was created naturally. When he took a closer look he decided otherwise, however.
"I think it's very difficult to explain away their origin as being purely natural, because of the vast amount of evidence of man's influence on the structures," he said, as per National Geographic.
The mystery continues...
Niamh Shackleton