An enormous monolith, carved 9350 years ago, was found by scientists under the Mediterranean Sea. The monolith measures 12 meters in height, and it was built around nine thousand years ago by stone-age humans. The material used in building the monolith is limestone from a nearby area.
The monolith is now split in two. It has been found at the bottom of the Mediterranean, in the Sicilian Channel between Sicily and Tunisia. It is believed that the monolith represented a stone-age totem and it was hewed from a rocky outcrop some 300m away at a time when the Mediterranean Sea was still a dry basin. Today, the enormous monument is under 40 meters of water.
The discovery was announced in a new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science. According to the published study, the area where the monolith has been found was submerged about 9350 years ago, at a time when the last Ice Age retreated. The area was believed to be an archipelago, before that time. A string of islands was linking North Africa to Europe via a shallow sea.
The study explains that the ancient totem was cut and extracted as a single stone. It is believed that the limestone material used for building the monolith come from the outer rectilinear ridge situated about 300 to the south. The stone-age monument was transported over that distance and erected, according to the study. From its size, scientists presume that the stone-age monolith weighs around 15 tons.
The mystery of the ancient monolith force archeology scholars to rethink the technological know-how of what is defined as a 'primitive' stone-age community of hunter-gatherers. The monolith features unusual holes drilled through its base. It is not clear yet what was their purpose.
This important discovery proves the existence of a significant Mesolithic human activity in the Sicilian Channel region, according the research paper. Archeologists believe that Sicily, an island off Italy, has been settled between 17,000 and 27,000 years ago. At that era, there was a land bridge linking what now is an island to the Italian mainland.
Principal authors of the study, Zvi Ben-Abraham and Emanuele Lodolo, affirmed that they found compelling evidence that the stone block was not a natural anomaly but rather man-made. Its regular shape and three similar-sized holes carved in its base are strong proofs backing up their claims.
In order to manufacture, move and erect a monolith of such size the stone-age community of hunter gathers had to master cutting work techniques, as well as extraction techniques and transportation. The study says that such skills had not been previously associated with stone-age people. According to the published study, this discovery may expand significantly our views on the development achieved and technological innovation in Mesolithic as well as our knowledge of the earliest civilizations in the Mediterranean basin.
Mysterious megalithic temples were previously found on the nearby island of Malta. Up to date, the oldest known man-made structure is at Gobekli Tepe, in south-eastern Turkey. The megalithic structure in Turkey is estimated to be 11,600 years old, according to carbon dating.
