Left: Photo of what appear to be paving stones on the bottom of a wide, flat area just off the coast of North Andros. The depth of the water in this area is 10-12 feet. Photo—G. Little © 2003

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The A.R.E.'s Search for Atlantis: Update on the Underwater Stone Platform at Andros Island

By Dr. Greg Little

As previously reported, during the 2003 A.R.E. Search for Atlantis Project, we unexpectedly discovered a three-tiered stone formation off the coast of Andros at Nicholls Town. The structure is about 150 feet wide and 450 yards long. It is comprised of huge blocks of stone, with most of the visible blocks 25 by 30 feet and two-feet thick.

While we found what appeared to be a ramp leading up the structure from the deeper lagoon on the inside of the formation, two other significant finds were made. The first of these finds was made as we were reviewing video for our documentary on the expeditions. While Greg was changing scuba tanks in the boat, Lora videotaped an area of the platform from the surface. However, because she was looking through a small viewfinder on the videocamera, she couldn't see details on the bottom.

Possible Toolmarks Found

In our later review of the video, an interesting finding was made. On the surface of one of the large blocks we could clearly see a square indentation bored into the stone. The square indentation was about 5 by 5 inches. It was at least 4-5 inches deep, but had sand in it. Thus, we do not know how deep the square hole actually goes. It looked about the size of a square post hole. We also noted less impressive marks on a few stones but a few of these looked like cut marks.

North of the Platform: Flat "Paved" Area Found

In late June we returned to Andros. One of our major goals was to look at an area about a half-mile north of the platform. Dino Keller, the former dive operator who initially told us about the platform, told us that he had seen smaller stones in the area. Just north of the platform, a deep channel leads into the Nicholls Town lagoon, which in most places is about 25-feet deep. We wanted to look at the channel and also look at the area further north.

Initially we intended to stay at Andros for four days where we were supposed to meet a production crew from The Learning Channel. We were then to accompany them to Bimini where we would investigate the large circle and straight lines at Bimini. However, the production crew couldn't get to Andros because of storms and other problems. Thus, we were in Andros for only two days.

The day we arrived at Andros we snorkeled the area north of the platform for about 2 hours. We saw the channel leading into the lagoon, however, we found something further north of the channel, which, at face value, seems incredible. About 200-300 yards off the shore, we encountered an expansive flat area which extended all the way out to the Tongue of the Ocean. The Tongue of the Ocean is a 2-mile deep trench that is 40-miles wide and extends the entire length of the island.

While most of the flat bottom was covered by sand, there were several areas with almost no sand present. In all of these areas, we saw what look like paving stones fitted into place. These were all square or rectangular with the smallest ones about 2-feet square. The depth of the water in this area is 10-12 feet, about the same depth as the top tier of the platform.

The Ancient Harbor Theory

Our analysis of the finds at both Andros and Bimini led us to a theory which was proposed back in 1969. The theory was suggested by the first two individuals who declared that the Bimini Road was primarily constructed from beachrock. The original discoverer of the Road, Dr. J. Manson Valentine asserted that most of the stones were beachrock and the French oceanographer, Dimitri Rebikoff, agreed with him. Rebikoff asserted that the layout of the Road site was similar to the ancient harbors of the Mediterranean and thought that the Road site may actually have been a breakwater enclosing a harbor lagoon.

Both Rebikoff and Valentine's assertions were ignored by skeptics who, with nearly no supporting evidence, wrote that the Road was formed from natural beachrock. The matter, at least for the skeptics, was closed. However, the skeptical reports also ignored the fact that the ancient Mediterranean harbors were also constructed from beachrock. The geologists who issued these reports either were not aware of the ancient harbors or they decided to ignore them. In fact, the first skeptical report cited Pino Turolla as the discoverer of the Road site despite using Valentine's articles as references.

Beachrock has taken on a popular meaning that seems to imply a form of useless stone, however, in the Bahamas, beachrock is usually limestone. Of course, most of the Great Pyramid's one million stones are limestone.

Our analysis led us to a possible theory about both sites: Andros and Bimini. The Andros platform has all the characteristics of an ancient breakwater enclosing a harbor. Its size and shape are in line with many of the dozens of ancient harbors discovered in the Mediterranean. Following the theory, the paved area to the north of the platform appears to be a quay: a paved staging area built at the most sophisticated harbors.

The Bimini Road also fits the characteristics and dimensions one would expect for an ancient harbor. Skeptics have countered that the Road site has only one level of stones, but they conveniently ignore a well-known fact. In 1926, after a violent hurricane, numerous bargeloads of stones were dredged up from the Road site and sent to Miami. At Miami, the stones were used to repair breakwaters.

Perhaps one of the most important links between Bimini and Andros relating to Edgar Cayce's statements about Bimini is this: During the last Ice Age, when ocean levels were lower, Bimini and Andros were part of the same large island.

We present all of our findings in the book, The A.R.E.'s Search for Atlantis, scheduled to be released at the Ancient Mysteries Conference October 10 at Virginia Beach. In addition, we have produced a documentary video on the research titled, "The A.R.E.'s 2003 Search for Atlantis."

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