Japan's Yonaguni-Jima – Mysterious Underwater Pyramid

Yonaguni Island is part of a chain of islands known as the Ryūkyū Islands, which stretch south from Japan to mainland China.

Yonaguni is the last of the Ryūkyū Islands and lies just 30 miles from Taiwan.

Ten years ago, while looking for interesting underwater diving sites near the Yonaguni Monument, diving instructor Kihachiro Aratake, a director of the Yonaguni-Cho Tourism Association, discovered an astonishing 20 meters underwater to build under the surface of the water.

The construct is defined as “like a row in the side of a mountain,” like a stand for Sea Gods, or rather like an amphitheater with its huge stone blocks and steps.

The construct’s base is 250 meters 100 meters below the surface of the ocean and rises to a height of 80 meters.

Man-made, or created by nature?

This enigmatic, sunken stone structures off Okinawa, Japan, from 60 to 100 feet below the ocean surface, have the Japanese wondering if their homeland was once part of the lost continent of Mu.


Stone patios, walls and rectangular blocks, and stone circles includes hexagonal columns look intriguingly, if not permanently, man-made.

A few more clues: a way around, what would postholes supported ancient wooden structures, how to cut out steps, and castles with similar architecture nearby and is still located on the land.

ESA Proba-1 Images of Earth from Space

The Pyramids of Giza, nearby Cairo in Egypt.

The Mysterious and Mystical Uluru or Ayres Rock in Australia.

How the Pyramids were Built

Jean-Pierre Houdin spent a couple of decades working as an independent architect around Paris. Then, his career took a big turn. Working with his father, Houdin tried to crack an ancient mystery — how were the great pyramids of Egypt built?

Throughout the centuries, various theories have been put forth. Herodotus, who visited Egypt around 450 B.C., speculated that some “machines” were involved. Others thought that mounds serving as ramps played a central role in the construction. And still others have guessed that extraterrestrials were the real builders (seriously).

Now Houdin enters into the debate with what Egyptologist Bob Brier calls a “radical new theory.”

Using state-of-the-art 3-D software, Houdin has concluded that the bottom portion of the pyramids were built with an external ramp, and the upper portions with internal ramps. Brier summarizes the theory rather well in this short article.

Houdin’s work has focused particularly on the Great Pyramid of Giza, otherwise known as the Pyramid of Khufu, built circa 2500 B.C. (See image here). And he has gone so far as to create a 3D interactive film that visually documents his hypothesis.

We’ve embedded a good clip above. You can also head to Khufu Reborn to get the full interactive experience. (Note: You’ll need a PC, 3D glasses and some downloadable plugins to make it all work.)

Mystery Of Golden Ratio Explained

Mystery Of Golden Ratio Explained

he Egyptians supposedly used it to guide the construction the Pyramids. The architecture of ancient Athens is thought to have been based on it. Fictional Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon tried to unravel its mysteries in the novel The Da Vinci Code.

"It" is the golden ratio, a geometric proportion that has been theorized to be the most aesthetically pleasing to the eye and has been the root of countless mysteries over the centuries. Now, a Duke University engineer has found it to be a compelling springboard to unify vision, thought and movement under a single law of nature's design.

Also know the divine proportion, the golden ratio describes a rectangle with a length roughly one and a half times its width. Many artists and architects have fashioned their works around this proportion. For example, the Parthenon in Athens and Leonardo da Vinci's painting Mona Lisa are commonly cited examples of the ratio.

Adrian Bejan, professor of mechanical engineering at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering, thinks he knows why the golden ratio pops up everywhere: the eyes scan an image the fastest when it is shaped as a golden-ratio rectangle.

The natural design that connects vision and cognition is a theory that flowing systems - from airways in the lungs to the formation of river deltas - evolve in time so that they flow more and more easily. Bejan termed this the constructal law in 1996, and its latest application appears early online in the International Journal of Design and Nature and Ecodynamics.