Tel Aviv – A monolith of 12 meters, lying on the seabed at about 40 meters of depth, was found by divers in the Strait of Sicily. The divers knew where to look thanks to the evidence collected by geologists at the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics of Trieste. The discovery of this large block of stone work, which has regular holes on some of its sides and a hole passing through it in its entirety in one end, confirms the presence of human settlements in this part of the Mediterranean about 9500 years ago, when the global sea level was 40 meters lower. The site identified in the Strait of Sicily is one of the oldest submerged sites known so far, dating back to the Mesolithic age, much like the structures in Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, the first known example of stone temple. Thanks to the studies led by OGS, with the collaboration of the University of Tel Aviv, the Carabinieri and a group of professional divers of the Global Underwater Explorers, the discovery allows researchers to reconstruct the history of this human settlement. (9Colonne)
