Ten divers began a seven-day search for a possible underwater
"Atlantis" on Friday in the Fuxian Lake near Kunming City, Yunnan Province, the second-deepest freshwater
pool in the country.
Local diver Geng Wei first told of a large ancient city in the
lake eight years ago, thought to span 2.4 square kilometers. Geng
claimed to have seen lots of square boulders more than 1.4 square
meters in size, either piled or scattered deep underwater.
In 2001, the local government launched the first large
exploration of the lake, which was broadcast live across the nation
by China Central Television (CCTV).
submarine was sent down and detected a 60-meter-long stone wall.
Divers unearthed a shard of pottery embedded in the stone wall,
which was found to date back to the Han Dynasty (104 BC- AD
220).
The evidence convinced Chinese archaeologists that there might
be some constructions under the lake, possibly more than 1,800
years old.
This hypothesis was substantiated on Friday in the first dive,
when Geng was videotaped finding three notches, each 1.2 meters
long and 45 centimeters wide, on a moss-covered square slate.
The "IY"-shaped notches must have been artificial, and "support
the idea that all the stones were once processed by humans," said
Li Kunsheng, director of the Archaeology Research Centre of Yunnan
University.
But Liu Qingzhu, director of the Institute of Archaeology under
the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, added: "We still have not
enough information to verify that these slates made up a city. Even
the shard and shell cannot represent the exact date of the
rocks."
After Geng announced his discovery eight years ago, more claims
were made of underwater finds in the lake, which boasts a water
surface of 212 square kilometers and an average depth of 87 meters.
They include a slate path, an arena-like building and a small
pyramid.
However, Liu, who was present during two underwater excavations,
said no pictures or evidence about the above "findings" had ever
been provided by these people.
Despite this, experts have engaged in a prolonged debate over
whether these slates are relics of a documented city that
mysteriously disappeared.
The history books show that the city of Yuyuan to the north of
the Fuxian Lake once existed, but it disappeared from records after
the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589).
Li said the lake is situated on an earthquake-intense belt,
which might suggest that the underwater construction may have
sunken in rising waves during a quake.
Dissenters argue that the stone structure is contrary to
buildings of this era, which were made of bamboo, wood or mud.
Liu said that while all the answers to this underwater mystery
will not be found in seven days, "we'll try to outline a layout map
of what is beneath, and do more in the future."
(China Daily June 17, 2006)
