Mysterious underwater 'pyramid' believed to be 12,000 years old reshapes history

A sunken 'pyramid' near Taiwan may rewrite everything we thought we knew about the ancient world.

Sitting just 82 feet below sea level near the Ryukyu Islands of Japan, a mysterious object called the Yonaguni monument continues to stump and astonish researchers since its discovery in 1986.

This giant structure with sharp-angled steps stands roughly 90 feet tall and appears to be made entirely of stone, leading many to believe it was man-made.

However, tests of the stone show it to be over 10,000 years old, meaning that if a civilization built this pyramid by hand, it would have taken place before this region sank under water - more than 12,000 years ago.

That would place it further back in history than most other ancient structures by several thousand years, including the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge.

Currently, scientists believe that the ability for ancient humans to construct large structures like temples and pyramids evolved alongside the development of agriculture 12,000 years ago.

If an advanced society was already building giant step pyramids long before this time, however, it could change the history books forever and reveal another lost tribe of humans - just like the myths of Atlantis.

In fact, Yonaguni monument is often called 'Japan's Atlantis.'

Yonaguni monument has a pyramid shape with shockingly straight steps that appear carved

Yonaguni monument is roughly 60 miles to the east of Taiwan

The site recently gained widespread attention after scientists sparred over its origins on the Joe Rogen Experience podcast.

Graham Hancock, an author focused on lost civilizations and archaeologist Flint Dibble debated over the pictures of Yonaguni monument.

'To me, Flint, it's stunning that you see that as a totally natural thing, but I guess we've just got very different eyes,' Hancock said.

Hancock added that photographs from dives at the site clearly show human-made arches, megaliths, steps, terraces, and what seem to be a carved rock 'face.'

If Yonaguni monument really was built by a mysterious civilization over 10,000 years ago, it would add it to the growing list of puzzling structures that should have been impossible to construct that long ago.

Built around the same time period, Yonaguni monument could potentially join the man-made ancient structure of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey as evidence of lost civilizations.

This archaeological site in Upper Mesopotamia is believed to have been inhabited from around 9500 BC to at least 8000 BCE, during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Era.

That's over 5,000 years before the Egyptian pyramids were built and roughly 6,000 before Stonehenge.

The sandstone slabs of Yonaguni monument have convinced many researchers into ancient civilizations that an advanced society built a pyramid before the end of the last Ice Age

Göbekli Tepe in Turkey was constructed around the same time as researchers believe Yonaguni monument would have been built in Asia

Meanwhile, another ancient structure in Indonesia could predate Göbekli Tepe and Japan's Atlantis by a staggering amount of time.

Gunung Padang, first re-discovered by Dutch explorers in 1890, is said to be the world's oldest pyramid.

Studies show that the 98-foot-deep 'megalith' submerged within a hill of lava rock dates back more than 16,000 years.

In 2023, scientists said the structure promises to upend the conventional wisdom on just how 'primitive' hunter-gather societies actually were - revealing the true 'engineering capabilities of ancient civilizations.'

According to Dr Masaaki Kimura, the case surrounding Japan's Atlantis is very much still open for debate. Kimura is the scientist who tested the sandstone's age, finding that the rocks date back more than 10,000 years.

At this point in history, the structure would have still been on dry land, before the melting of massive ice sheets caused global sea levels to rise at the end of the last Ice Age.

Studies show that at the peak of the Ice Age, roughly 20,000 years ago, sea levels were approximately 400 feet lower than they are today.