Britain’s Atlantis Revealed (ca. 500 AD)
For the first time since its discovery, Britain’s very own underwater “Atlantis” is likely to finally be revealed and examined. The town under investigation is the lost city of Dunwich, located off the coast of Suffolk.
This ancient British town was considered lost until the 1970s, when marine archaeologist Stuart Bacon located the city’s debris underwater. Since that time, dives have been conducted on the site, but it wasn’t until recently that high-tech underwater cameras were developed that could massively improve researchers’ ability to take accurate images of the city as it sits on the seafloor.
An expedition is planned for 2008 that will make use of the latest sonar, scanning equipment, and underwater cameras, in order to build an accurate picture of what the ancient sunken city looked like before it was submerged. Currently, the city lies between 3 and 15 meters below the surface.
About 1,500 years ago, Dunwich was the capital of East Anglia – and at this point, divers have found three churches and one chapel, though the silt levels in the water are so high that visibility for the sunken city is no more than a few centimeters.
During the city’s height, it was a prosperous seaport that specialized in the wool and grain trade, boasting a population of around 3,000 people. Historical texts from the time have identified that the city had about eight churches, three chapels, two hospitals, and five houses for various religious orders – though it is likely that there were even more churches at the city during its most prosperous period, considering the size of the population.
The decline of the city began in 1286 AD, when the East Anglian coast was hit by a sea surge that began to erode the coastline. Since Dunwich literally sat right on the coast, the city was gradually claimed by the sea as the coastline eroded over a period of time. According to ancient reports, after the storm of 1286 had swept away a large part of the town, the residents banded together to try and save the harbor – but in 1328, a second storm destroyed it and the entirety of a neighboring village a little way up the coast.
In 1347, another storm swept around 400 houses into the sea, and longshore drift set in to reduce the city to what is visible today; the Dunwich buildings that currently sit on cliffs were once at least a mile inland. According to local legend, there are certain tides where a person can stand on the shore and hear church bells underneath the waves.
Want to read more?
Tomorrow: More Ancient Standard
No comments yet
Leave a reply