High-resolution acoustic imaging captures the clearest ever pictures of Britain's Atlantis.
Dunwich, a port town similar in size to the 14th century London faced a crisis in the early 1200's. Battered with severe climatic changes and harsh weather conditions including storms, causing coastal erosion and flooding, Dunwich finally broke free and a good 25 percent of it fell into the sea.
Abandoned and alone, the entire town eventually submerged into the sea after centuries of continued erosion.
For long, this town has been a major source of interest for archaeologists and researchers, however, being 10 to 33 feet under the sea made it difficult for it to be explored.
Researchers from the University of Southampton began an underwater survey in 2008 to explore Dunwich- Britain's own Atlantis. The detailed new report now puts forth the town's map, complete with buildings, a chapel and a friary.
"The loss of most of the medieval town of Dunwich over the last few hundred years - one of the most important English ports in the Middle Ages - is part of a long process that is likely to result in more losses in the future," Peter Murphy, a coastal survey expert with the protection group English Heritage, said in a statement.
Professor of geography and environment at the University of Southampton David Sear has very cleverly made use of DIDSON imaging technology for this research. The DIDSON imaging technology is particularly used to observe marine wrecks.
"DIDSON technology is rather like shining a torch onto the seabed, only using sound instead of light. The data produced helps us to not only see the ruins, but also understand more about how they interact with the tidal currents and sea bed," Sear said in a statement.
A close survey also revealed that the sunken town had multiple religious buildings-Chapels of St Katherine, St Nicholas Church, All Saints Church and Blackfriars Friary.
The northern part of the town, on the other hand, seemed to be full of port activities.
"Global climate change has made coastal erosion a topical issue in the 21st century, but Dunwich demonstrates that it has happened before," Sear said.
