Some of history’s greatest marvels are still tangible… just not necessarily above sea level

From the famous Mayan pyramid of Chichén Itzá in Mexico to the peculiar stone Moai heads of Chile’s Easter Island, the world is awash with sites and monuments from times long past. Not every historical site of interest endures upon land, however. Underwater towns, cities, villages and palaces might seem like the stuff of legend to some. Atlantis, the fictional city created by Greek philosopher Plato as part of an analogy for one of his books, might spring to mind. Earth’s lakes and oceans, however, are the resting places of many a civilisation.

Damian Robinson, director of the Oxford Centre for Maritime Technology, believes these places have unique value. ‘Underwater sites and monuments often come with fascinating stories attached to them,’ he says. ‘The waters help to preserve so much of the evidence that would generally have been lost due to life continuing in the same place. People build, rebuild and recycle and, in doing so, sweep away much of the old.’ Untouched by human hand, these sunken sites offer an opportunity for analysis that, says Damian, ‘deals with the minutiae of daily life… in a way that is almost unattainable on land, and this allows us to tell richly compelling stories’.

Here, we dive into six of these submerged miracles and explore what they tell us about times gone by.