An ancient underwater city found in Turkey could rewrite a Bible story known to millions.
The sprawling ruins lie 85 feet below the surface of Lake Van, near the town of Gevas.
Lake Van is just 150 miles from Mount Ararat, the mountain traditionally believed to be the final resting place of Noah's Ark.
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|The sprawling ruins lie 85 feet below the surface of Lake Van, near the town of Gevas
Geographical evidence suggests the ruins were submerged between 12,000 and 14,500 years ago during the Younger Dryas, a period of extreme climate upheaval.
It was during this time that an eruption of Mount Nemrut blocked the Mirat River, and cause massive flooding.
Researchers have claimed this disaster eradicated an ancient civilisation which could have inspired the earliest versions of the Great Flood story.
"As far as I'm aware, any civilisations in the last 6,000 years did not have the technological means to create the type of stonework we're seeing here," independent researcher Matt LaCroix said on the Matt Beall Limitless podcast.
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|Mount Ararat is believed to be the resting place of Noah's Ark
Alongside an international dive team, LaCroix is preparing to explore the site himself in September.
He believes using advanced imaging tools to map the ruins could help rewrite humanity's timeline.
The submerged ruins, which span more than half a mile, feature a stone fortress flanked by circular temples containing intricately carved masonry.
A six-spoke "Flower of Life" symbol, which is an ancient motif also found at sacred sites in Bolivia and Peru, is engraved on a capstone.
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|LaCroix believes using advance imaging tools to map the ruins could help rewrite humanity's timeline.
Although the complex was originally discovered by Tossen Salin, a Turkish underwater filmmaker, in 1997, it has remained largely unknown to the public.
Archaeologists have confirmed the ruins exist, but many attribute them to the Urartian period around 3,000 years ago, or even to the medieval era.
However, the site is yet to be fully explored and definitively dated.
LaCroix claimed in July that the geological data told a different story.
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|The submerged ruins feature a stone fortress flanked by circular temples containing intricately carved masonry
He said soil sampling and analysis of Mount Nemrut provided clear evidence of a massive eruption around 12,000 years ago.
This led to Lake Van's water level rising dramatically by over 100 feet, according to some estimates.
Researchers hope to find organic material, such as sediment layers or artefacts, to date the ruins because stone cannot be carbon-dated.
However, collecting this type of evidence underwater is incredibly challenging.
LaCroix said: "You can see that the temple has been significantly damaged.
"All the stones on the top have broken off except those at the edges.
"The site resembles Peruvian masonry, with precisely angled stones forming triangular joints, and only the front appears flat."
He claims the shared symbolic motifs, architectural features, and astronomical alignments across sites in Turkey, South America and Asia suggest the existence of a long-lost global civilisation.