Divers Find 16-Foot Statue On The Ocean Floor, Then Realize It's Not The Only Thing Down There
Underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio made a career of dredging up the past, and few could surpass his expertise. But even he was blown away during a diving expedition off the coast of Egypt. They encountered a huge structure that was formerly believed to have been lost forever, but that find ended up only being the tip of the iceberg.
An Underwater Adventurer
Goddio had been a leading maritime explorer since the 1980s, but he was rubbing his eyes in disbelief following a 2000 dive. Amid the rocks and sea life, the archaeologist came face-to-face with an Egyptian deity — a rather huge one, at that.
Ancient Egypt
His name was Hapi. Goddio knew the god's story well, and for centuries Hapi maintained a delicate balance in ancient Egypt, according to traditional myth. But not everything is meant to last.
Lord of the River
Hapi was the god of fertility and the lord of the Nile River. When the people of Egypt grew thirsty, legend held that he would make its banks flood. But something beneath both earth and water was rumbling…
Shattered Earth
Records show that one day, at the end of the second century B.C.E., the ground began to shake. Even the god himself couldn't withstand such a force, and so he fell. Before long, the great lord of the Nile was all but forgotten.
A New Tide
Literally thousands of years later, in the early 2000s, Goddio's team dove into the waters outside the city of Alexandria. The area was no stranger to archaeologists from around the world, and yet everyone who'd visited before somehow missed a massive piece of history.
Thrown Into Sea
It started underneath the seabed. Utilizing a method that led to the discovery of several prominent shipwrecks around the world, Goddio mapped out the underwater terrain of Abu Qir Bay. The divers pinpointed a large rock fragment there, but it wasn’t clear enough to identify.
Sand And Salt
Clearly, it was some kind of manmade object, but its features were hard to make out. Over thousands of years, many layers of sand and salt piled on top of the lost relic. What was left was barely visible.
Seabed Treasure
Bringing in more lights and cleaning off some debris, Goddio's team made out a sixteen-foot tall human figure, carved out of stone. It had stared up at passing ships for millennia, but the archaeologists wouldn't leave it there much longer. They wanted a closer look
Hapi Rises
After bringing the statue to the surface and cleaning it up, the researchers confirmed that it was a 16-foot statue of Hapi himself! Of course, they had no choice but to dive back in.
More Statues
In Hapi's immediate vicinity, the explorers dug up similarly sized statues of an Egyptian king and queen, as well as a number of smaller objects. Little by little, it became apparent that these were like breadcrumbs leading to some greater archaeological breakthrough.
Under Water
Soon, Goddio was mapping out a wall than ran for five hundred feet along the bay's floor. Tucked within its stones was a plaque from Ptolemy III, one of the most powerful rulers in the history of Egypt. That's when it hit the archaeologists that they weren't just excavating a few lost objects.
Second Look
They had discovered an entire city! Ptolemy's plaque named it Thonis-Heracleion, which was a name well-known to historians. It featured heavily in ancient myths, though many modern-day experts were convinced it no longer existed.
Famous History
Thonis-Heracleion was legendary for being where the mighty hero Heracles first touched down in Africa during his adventures, and the spot was later named after him. It was where Helen sought refuge with her abductor, Paris of Troy, after fleeing Greece! Egyptians erected a massive temple to commemorate these events.
Something Else
Archaeologist Aurélia Masson-Berghoff said of the event: “Discovering a whole city, which was home to thousands and thousands of people over more than a thousand years … Well, that’s something else.” So why hadn't Thonis-Heracleion been sought after and discovered earlier?
Merchant Hub
Much of why the city wasn’t famous has to do with it mostly being a merchant city. It had a huge port and was key in the trade of silver, copper, wine, oil, perfume, grain and papyrus! Still, an unknowing man came close to unveiling the lost city 70 years before Goddio.
Pilot Sighting
In 1933, a pilot from the British Royal Air Force flew over Alexandria and saw what he thought was ruins beneath the water's surface. He noted his find, but little came of his report. If only the archaeologists of his day laid their eyes on the wealth of treasures that lay on the seabed.
2,700 Years
By examining the artifacts, researchers declared that Thonis-Heracleion was around 2,700 years old. Economic and political shifts, in addition to the horrific weather events, brought about its downfall. However, the experts still had plenty of blind spots about its history.
Everyday People
The fancy busts and jewels told historians a lot about the era’s rich and famous, but much was left out about the lower classes. “My hope is that future discoveries will enable us to shed more light on the lives of ordinary people,” says Masson-Berghoff. Archaeologists will probably get their chance soon.
Still Buried
To this day, almost 95% of the site remains unexplored. “What we know now is just a fraction,” said Franck Goddio, while directing the excavations. “We are still at the very beginning of our search.” And the fate of Thonis-Heracleion remains frighteningly relevant today.
Future-Past
This discovery gave us a glimpse at the past, but with never ending rising sea levels in Egypt, it might be a foretelling of many urban futures. Peoples around the Mediterranean will grapple with extreme weather events, so the story of Thonis-Heracleion could spur them to adapt. It's likely the greatest "lost city" ever found, but one discovered on the other side of the world in 2015 may have this site beat.
Lost City of the Monkey God
The "Lost City of the Monkey God" was supposed to be a rumor, just a story spread by 16th-century conquistadors and natives. However, that didn't stop ambitious explorers from putting their lives on the line to find it — and eventually discovering the "rumor" may have been more real than they thought.
Searching For The City
By the 1920s, no one believed the city existed. Charles Lindbergh (below), the famed aviator, claimed to see the ancient city during one flight. Explorer Theodore Morde went into the Honduras jungle at the behest of the Museum of American Indian in the 1940s to search for it — with better luck.
Possible Success
Theodore returned with piles of artifacts and claimed to have found the lost city, though he kept the location a secret and eventually died by suicide, taking the information with him. No one could confirm the city existed or where it might be. Until 2012.
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Location Acquired
In 2012, a documentary team funded an aerial survey of a deep valley surrounded by mountains. With lidar technology, they finally found what so many others couldn’t — a concrete location for Lost City of the Monkey God. In 2015, a research team traveled into the Honduran wilderness to explore the find.
Major Proof
The archaeologists were surrounded by plazas, earthworks, mounds, and a pyramid. They also found stone sculptures scattered throughout the area. There isn’t much information available about the original inhabitants; they’re still unnamed.
New Studies
The region is remote and unstudied, which makes it an important site for many scientific specialties, like archaeologist and biologists. “This is clearly the most undisturbed rain forest in Central America,” ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin said. “The importance of this place can’t be overestimated.”
We’re Looking Too
The latter group mounted their own recent investigation into The White City to study the wildlife residing there. Along the way, they also discovered the amazing beauty of the lowland rainforest. There was a lot they never expected to see.
Amazing Sights
“There’s big, old-growth trees that you often just don’t see in places that are more impacted by people,” Trond Larsen, director of Conservation International’s rapid assessment program described. The experts were positively giddy with glee.
Staying Wild
Because The Lost City is so remote, it’s remained wild. “There’s no roads, there’s no logistical infrastructure to access, so you have to helicopter in. And when you do that, you end up visiting places where wildlife tends to be much more abundant,” Trond said.
Flowing Waters
The wildlife in this unexplored area was definitely abundant. Focusing on The Ciudad del Jaguar (City of the Jaguar) section of the jungle, the researchers studied the freshwater rivers and their tributaries that flowed across the verdant ground.
Flourishing Wildlife
From this undisturbed, unique setup, an abundance of biodiversity has flourished. The smaller streams created numerous microhabitats perfect for a multitude of creatures. Scientists observed birds, crabs, otters, and many other animals.
That’s Some Biodiversity
They noted 246 species of butterflies and moths, 30 for bats, and 57 amphibians and reptiles — and this doesn’t count all of the plants and other types of fauna the scientists examined. Groundbreaking observations kept piling up.
Big Finds
In their massive collection of data, the experts made some particularly noteworthy finds. The crew found three species that were previously thought to be extinct, many creatures on the brink of a population crisis, and even a new type of fish. The species were stunning
Found You
For instance, the group rediscovered the False Tree Coral Snake in Honduras. The reptile hadn’t been observed in Central American since the ‘60s. This team found eight different species of the snake. Soon, they uncovered more lost species.
Spying Peccaries
They also saw a group of white-lipped peccaries. These animals look extremely similar to pigs and require an enormous forested environment to thrive, which is why they’re doing so well in the deep Honduras jungle. Meanwhile, the photographers were hard at work.
Salamander Species
Researchers captured images of several salamanders, like the Bolitoglossa mexicana, which is rarely seen outside of North America, and a worm salamander, the Oedipina quadra. The worm salamander’s name comes from its extremely long tail.
Frogs And Bats
The glass frog, Sachatamia albomaculata, was another important find because it was the first of its kind in the region. And last spotted in Honduras in 1942, the scientists saw Pale-faced Bats, or Phylloderma stenops.
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Beautiful Butterflies
One of their most beautiful discoveries was the morpho butterfly, Morpho helenor. These winged insects are one of the largest types of butterflies in the world and can have a nearly eight-inch wingspan.
They’re In Danger
All of these creatures, and the hundreds more we didn’t have space for in this article, are at risk. Ranchers are deforesting huge swathes of rainforest to make room for cattle to graze, threatening hundreds of rare species.
Vanishing Rainforests
“If we don’t do something right away, most of this forest and valley will be gone in eight years,” Virgilio Paredes Trapero, head of the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History, said. He wasn't alone in his cries for help.
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The Crossroads
Earth's future is at a crossroads. Every time the United Nations Environment Assembly meets, they up their efforts to protect the planet from threats like climate change. But by 2019, the prospects were looking particularly bleak for one country.
So Long, Trees
Among the smorgasbord of environmental issues, deforestation posed a particularly large threat to the international community. The Earth was losing over 18 million acres of greenery each year.
Wood
Skeptics will downplay the effects of this trend. Wood is a major resource; how could we just stop harvesting it? How much harm could a few extra logs do to the planet? Well, even in an urbanized society, forests remain one of our most valuable assets.
Deforestation
Of course, these wooded areas serve as the habitat for countless plant and animal species. Without a stable home, these creatures could be in danger of going extinct. But deforestation is also a problem for humans.
Into the Sky
It's no secret that man-made emissions of carbon dioxide are permanently raising temperatures all over Earth. It's unclear if we can turn back this tide, but without robust forests, we do not stand a chance.
Strange Weather Patterns
Areas of dense vegetation serve as a sort of sponge for carbon dioxide, plus they also help keep moisture inside the soil. But with their influence shrinking, climate change is brewing strange weather patterns that are endangering people everywhere.
MODIS
NASA has monitored these effects using satellite technology. Years of data from MODIS — Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer — have shown unexpected shifts in greenery over recent periods.
Packing Up
For most of the 21st century, the drop in trees has allowed temperatures to rise and water to escape, thus transforming lush agricultural areas into virtual deserts. This process has forced entire communities to leave their homes.
The Haze
Particularly in China, which contains a small percentage of the world's forests compared to its massive size, desertification became an incredible danger. If the dust storms in center-city Beijing were any indication, the Chinese were quickly losing their country.
Making Plans
Zhang Jianlong, Director of China's Forestry Administration, understood the dire situation required an immediate response. Pulling a few strings with friends he had in other parts of the government, he set a bold plan into action.
Satellites
The rest of the world, however, wasn't aware of the Forestry solution at the time. They only noticed it in 2019, when NASA's satellites picked up on a startling find on Earth's surface below.
On The Verge
Thanks to the work of concerned environmentalists everywhere, greening was on the rise. All of a sudden, however, about 25% of that growth appeared to be coming out of China. Only a few years prior, it looked like it was on the verge of becoming a sandbox.
A New Look
Clearly, this was no happy accident. With the trees sprouting in such neatly organized rows in many of the most vulnerable regions of China, only a human operation could be responsible. But how did this all happen so quickly?
Soldiers
It turns out that Zhang convinced the government to lend him the assistance of 60,000 soldiers. Instead of carrying rifles, however, these troops trudged out to the environmental battlefield with shovels and gardening tools.
Three-North Shelter Forest Program
When the first spade broke through the dirt, the Three-North Shelter Forest Program was underway. The troops got to work planting thousands of trees to form an artificial forest. Ultimately, the plan was to build a "Great Green Wall."
Waiting For Answers
Naturally, the strategy isn't a guaranteed success. Ecologist Jiang Gaoming pointed out that the government has planted much of the greenery in spaces not capable of sustaining plant life. Many of the trees will die out before too long.
Hopeful
For the short term, at least, China's forests have boomed. The renewed greenery elongated the growing season and lessened the severity of dust storms. Best of all, the program inspired similar efforts worldwide.
All That Green
India suffered from many of the same industrial and ecological problems as China, so they too turned their attention to forestry. Summoning a huge number of volunteers, the country managed to plant a record 66 million saplings in just half a day!
Upgrades
India also upgraded its irrigation systems nationwide, bringing water to previously dried-out areas. While this process does siphon moisture away from other areas, it's been effective at fighting back against desertification.
Anyone
Given the current state of our planet, a ton of work is necessary to keep our world beautiful and liveable. But whether you're a soldier or a civilian, anyone can make a difference.
For instance, Sebastião Salgado, a Brazilian photojournalist, made a huge impact, after spending years abroad highlighting injustices across the globe. When he saw the effects of deforestation, he and his wife cooked up an unbelievable scheme to help out.
See, the Earth mattered a lot to him. He took photos that told stories about war, famine, poverty, disease, and violence. But fans of his work found relief in Salgado's nature photos, which portrayed the power of our planet.
His wife, Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado, wrote and edited the context to his photography books and produced a documentary about her husband's work called The Salt Of The Earth. Together, they saw all there was to see — or so they'd thought.
Back in 1994, the couple spent months documenting the Rwandan genocide. Understandably, the horror left them feeling broken, and when the war was over, all they wanted was to rest up in their hometown in Brazil.
After having been on the road for years on end, seeing Minas Gerais, Brazil, felt like huge relief at first. That was until the Salgados began to notice the change in the landscape around them; their home hardly looked familiar anymore.
The trees outside of their land had vanished, and all that remained were empty stretches of dirt. While this region is not part of the Amazon rainforest, its flora is supposed to be quite similar. Clearly, that was no longer the case.
Deforestation has plagued South America for decades now, as the demand for wood just keeps on rising. In fact, Brazil specifically has seen the highest deforestation rates of natural forests in the continent, and most of it is done illegally.
Between 2000 and 2008, both legal and illegal deforestation turned Brazil into a shell of its former self, with satellite imaging picking up less green year after year. Sebastião and his wife recognized this — and it broke their hearts.
"The land was as sick as I was – everything was destroyed,” Sebastião told The Guardian in 2015. “Only about 0.5% of the land was covered in trees.” Without drastic intervention, he knew, that number would likely soon be 0.
"Suddenly, my wife had a fabulous idea to replant this forest," Sebastião recalled. It was a tall order, one the couple wasn't even sure was possible. Could they even put a dent in deforestation's impact? They knew they had to try.
So they gathered all the manpower they could get and went to work. The plan was to gather the remaining seeds from the local region and carefully plant them, one by one, to get natural fauna to return to the area as well.
Every day for years on end, the Salgados and a few volunteers woke up, put on their gear, and worked for hours to undo the damage and rebuild the forest that once adorned this province.
Trees and plants needing a little extra TLC were grown in several greenhouses the Salgados built. There, Lelia looked after them with the help of a local gardening expert. The more flora that survived and grew, the more land they could recover.
And as time went by, seeds grew roots, roots grew branches, and branches grew leaves. It was difficult for the hard workers to not see their progress overnight, but after several months, their blood, sweat, and tears began to pay off.
As the trees grew, Sebastião felt peace. "All the insects and birds and fish returned and, thanks to this increase of the trees," he said, "I, too, was reborn – this was the most important moment."
“We need to listen to the words of the people on the land,” Sebastião explained. “Nature is the Earth and it is other beings and if we don’t have some kind of spiritual return to our planet, I fear that we will be compromised.”
Over two decades, the 1,700-acre forest was almost completely restored by planting nearly 300 different types of trees and plants, which caused a whopping 172 of bird species to return to the area.
Along with the birds, 33 endangered mammal species and 15 endangered reptile species were welcomed back into their native home. This meant the world for animals like the orangutan, who suffered greatly from deforestation.
The Salgados' work was unbelievable, and they proved small groups can make a huge difference. Planting more trees, plants, and flowers is a fantastic place to start, even if you don't have many resources! And one country took that message to heart.
Forests cover over 30 percent of the planet, but that's dropping quickly. Deforestation has crippling effects on the environment, and it wildly increases the level of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. This poses one devastating problem.
The Amazon rainforest alone accounts for 20 percent of all the breathable oxygen. So it's no surprise that there are hundreds of organizations out there dedicated to conserving our forests.
Some of these aforementioned groups have gotten pretty creative in the ways they're bringing deforestation to people's attention. A group in San Francisco, for instance, did a little outside recruiting to make its point.
This group worked with models for a San Fran fashion show, which brought attention to clothing brands that contribute to deforestation. Still, no single protest could quell the unbelievable destruction in the Philippines.
The Philippines is a nation in the Pacific Ocean made up of over 7,600 individual islands. It was recently ranked as one of the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, so they've been searching for a way to combat it.
See, the Philippines was once blanketed in lush forests that covered over 70 percent of the island nation. But by 1999, it was clear there was a problem: only a quarter of the forested area was left. Legal logging was only half the problem, though.
Illegal logging is a huge problem in the Philippines and contributes to much of the deforestation. Consequences for the country include food shortages and dangerous landslides. But one man had an interesting plan to help his country.
Gary Alejano was voted a representative in the Philippine congress back in 2013, and he knew something had to be done to protect their forests. So, being a legislator, he did some legislating, authoring a bill that might do just that.
He considered the old fashioned ways to solve the problem: using less paper, buying organic food from smaller companies, and limiting how much red meat people eat. But those were doomed to fail. So, he sought out innovation.
See, he knew that the younger generations were relying on the government to protect the forests for their future. He knew any plan that got the youth involved in solving the problem would have both immediate and long-term impacts.
So, along with a colleague, Gary authored a bill titled the "Graduation Legacy for the Environment Act." The main provision of the bill would require students to do something unexpected before they were allowed to graduate.
Before graduating primary school, high school, or college, all students would be required to plant ten trees. That's 30 trees per student by the time they graduate college! But would that really make an impact?
Gary was optimistic about the plan: "this initiative, if properly implemented, will ensure that at least 175 million new trees would be planted each year," he said about the proposal. Looking into the future, the impact would be astronomical.
Because if 175 million sounds like a lot, just you wait. If each class consistently plants that many trees, over 525 billion (with a b!) trees will be planted over the course of just one generation! Still, the bill needed to pass.
So, Gary, unsure if he had the votes, introduced the bill to the Philippine House of Representatives. Would the House be willing to take on something so ambitious?
As it turned out, they were! The bill passed the House successfully and was sent to the Senate for approval. Best of all, other provisions in the groundbreaking bill offered more solutions to the deforestation problem.
The bill specified the acceptable locations for new trees, which included forests, military reservations, and urban areas. Manila would be going green, but one politician wondered if their efforts would be enough.
"With the continued rise in urbanization," commented one representative about the project, "our ecology is suffering in the sense that trees are being cut to give way for various infrastructure projects." Would buildings or trees take precedent?
If the law works out in the Philippines, it could lead to more like it across the world. And 1,000 or more miles away, another island was trying to do just that.
See, Majuli is actually the world's largest river island. These special islands are really just big sand bars that form throughout a riverbed; sometimes the sand bars are so large, people can actually live on them — that's the case with Majuli.
But, in the heat of a river's current, the island changes shape and size frequently, which poses a threat to inhabitants. At the turn of the 20th century, Majuli was approximately 340 square miles, but as of 2014, the island is only 135 square miles.
Why the change? Because during the monsoon season large embankments were built up the river to protect larger towns from flooding. This didn't allow the riverbanks to naturally flood, and therefore directs all of the excess water down the river towards Majuli.
As the river water erodes the island, space for the 150,000 inhabitants shrinks. Since 1991, over 35 villages have been washed away, forcing villagers to leave the only home they ever knew.
Indian authorities are concerned that within the next 20 years the entire island of Majuli will be completely submerged and the 140 villages left will be lost forever. If they don't do something about it now, their fears will become a reality.
The people aren't the only ones being affected either. Animals are being severely affected by the intense flooding, resulting in major casualties. In fact, the snake population alone has dropped by 45 percent over the last five years!
When the river flooded the island, it would pick up the snakes and carry them downstream. The water dumped the snakes onto tree-less sandbars surrounding Majuli, leaving them exposed to the excessive heat and the harsh Indian sun.
One man in particular, Jadav Payeng from the Mising tribe of Majuli, grew up watching the island shrink. He watched villages wash away, he watched animals torn from their homes, and he watched the villagers grow more and more concerned.
As a young boy, Jadav loved nature, animals (yes, even the snakes), and anything that grew. This impacted him from a very young age and sparked his interest in environmental activism and forestry conservation.
He was determined to save the island and not just himself, but for his family and tribe. So at the age of 16, he decided to dedicate his life work to do just that: saving Majuli. How he did it was no small feat...
One day in 1979, he started planting trees. He managed to get seeds and made his way to a large, barren area on Majuli. He dug a small hole using a stick, dropped them in the hole, and left the rest to nature.
He knew that planting one tree wouldn't do much of anything, so day after day he returned and planted as many trees as he possibly could. His hope was that the trees would grow tall with deep roots that would hold the earth in place and protect the island from erosion.
After 40 years of consistent work, he'd planted an entire forest on the island, over tens of thousands of trees. This work resulted in a forest that was far larger than the size of New York's Central Park!
The forest was rightfully dubbed Molai Forest. He said that planting trees became much easier once he could seed from the trees that already exist in his forest. Still, Jadav faced struggles each day...
With his forest continually growing, animals returned to the area. Elephants, Bengal tigers, and rhinos to name a few now call this area of Majuli home. With the return of animals, Jadav said poachers became a problem once more.
Jadav said, "All species on this planet are animals, including humans. There are no monsters in nature except for humans. Humans consume everything until there is nothing left."
In 2015, he was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honor in India. Additionally, he was recognized by many other local Indian establishments for dedicating his life to the conversation of Majuli.
Still, Jadav was frustrated by the lack of real help he has received. He suggested planting coconut trees because they're strong and straight, which would help anchor the soil, and coconut harvesting would boost the economy, all within five years. But sadly no one adopted his proposal.
Jadav refused to give up. He had dreams of seeing Majuli return to the lush green forest it once was before humans so drastically altered it. He believed that he could save the island of Majuli. He stated, "I will continue to plant until my last breath."
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