Underwater Pyramid Hunted Off Florida - tribunedigital-sunsentinel 12/25/17, 6:04 PM

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Underwater Pyramid Hunted Off Florida
Shipwecks: Personal Profit Or March 16, 1987 | By JAY HAMBURG, The Orlando Sentinel
Scientific Study?
August 11, 1985 ORLANDO -- Alfred Conway keeps remembering the days he used to hunt
treasure with Mel Fisher, who is rich as a pirate king since finding the gold-laden
On The Trail Of Gasparilla`s Atocha off Key West.
Treasure Haunted By The Ghost...
October 11, 1992 Conway, a Vero Beach treasure hunter, has yet to uncover a bounty rich as his
friend`s. But he claims to have found an underwater pyramid off Indian River
Historic Anchor Aground After 18- County.
year Journey
January 23, 1987 ``This discovery represents the greatest archaeological discovery of the 20th
Medal Would Honor Crusading century because we can demonstrate a pyramid culture that predates the Near
Singer East and the New World,`` said Thomas Chisholm, the salvage group`s
May 6, 1986 archaeological consultant.
But the main problem is that Conway was unable to mark the exact location of the
30-foot stone structure.
Find More Stories About ``We expect to find it shortly,`` said Terry Brooks, president of the company. He
notes that skeptics scoffed at Fisher for many years.
Structure
Archaeologists The idea of a previously unknown civilization leaving submerged pryamids off the
Florida Coast, is one many archaeologists find hard to fathom.
``It doesn`t sound too real to me,`` said Calvin Jones of the state Division of
Historical Resources. ``I`m always open because we`re always learning new
things. But the idea of a mound made of rocks under more than 10 feet of water --
the chances are about one in a million.``
Jones said underwater sites in Florida have been found in less than 10 feet of
water, but they consist mostly of arrowheads and animal bones -- the remains of a
primitive culture.
Conway had his first inkling of something odd on the sea bottom, when in 1980,
he was taking depth readings off the coastline of Indian River County. His
readouts showed a stair-step structure. Though it intrigued him, it was not
metallic, and therefore, nothing that seemed to have any value.
But he kept an eye out, and in 1985 he spotted what appeared from the air to be
the top of a pyramid. He dropped a buoy within several hundred yards, but
couldn`t see anything from a boat the next day. Then last summer, Conway
spotted it a second time from the air. But when he attempted to drop another
buoy, a line tangled in the plane`s stabilizer, forcing him to land.
Conway described the structure as a stair pyramid at least 30 feet tall, with a base
about 86 feet long on each of four sides. He claims to have seen the outline of two
other structures nearby that he described as O-shaped and L-shaped.
If it is a genuine archaeological find, the pyramid would have to have been built
between 10,000 B.C. and 6,000 B.C., when the continental shelf was not covered
by water, said Chisholm.
Florida archaeologists agree with him on the time span, but disagree with many
other of his group`s claims.
Florida State University anthropologist Glen Doranprofessor said the earliest Near
East pyramids are dated to about 4,000 B.C. and all New World pyramids are
dated after 1 A.D. So any such structure off the coast of Florida would be at least
2,000 years older than all other known pyramids.
Doran, who directed the Windover project in Titusville, notes that there are not
even any Indian earth mounds found in the state prior to 2,500 B.C.

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Underwater Pyramid Hunted Off Florida - tribunedigital-sunsentinel 12/25/17, 6:04 PM

`It seems unusual that there isn`t anything similar (to the pyramid) on the coastal
inland,`` Doran said. `And it strikes me with as much diving that has been done in
Floria, it`s surprising that we haven`t found anything similar (underwater).``
Another problem is the orgin of rocks used in such a pyramid. Chisholm, suggests
that stone could be imported from Georgia or Tennessee or it could be coquina, a
soft limestone found in Florida.
But state archaeologist Jones said the earliest extensive use of coquina does not
occur until the Spanish began using it in the 1600s.

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