The Bimini Road: A Miracle of Nature or The Work of Man’s Hand? (2024)

Legends and mysteries regarding ancient civilizations abound, and one of the most alluring of those is the legend of Atlantis. Was there an advanced culture that disappeared ten to twelve thousand years ago, or were scholars such as Plato and Proclus taking poetic license with their written works describing the lost city and its people? In any case, stories about Atlantis have been passed down through the ages, as have suppositions regarding the civilization’s location. One location many believe to be part of the lost city of Atlantis is the Bimini Road, which is a series of stones that appear to have been laid out in two parallel tracks.

A Case for Atlantis

While many ancient philosophers believed that stories about Atlantis were simply meant to be entertaining, many others researched it seriously and wrote extensively about its people and geography. Proclus believed that there were in fact several lost islands throughout the world, including very large ones such as Atlantis is thought to have been. Plato, who like many scholars had extensive knowledge of cataclysmic events such as the volcanic eruption and subsequent loss of Thera or the mysterious sinking of Helike in 373 BCE. For centuries, people believed that both Thera and Helike were the stuff of legends, but in 1960, ancient ruins were found on Helike, and today, excavations continue on the city of Akrotiri, which has been discovered completely entombed in a layer of pumice that preserved it for millennia. Given such discoveries, we would be foolish to deny the possibility that Atlantean ruins exist somewhere in the world.

The Argument for Geology

Despite the possibility that the lost civilization of Atlantis really does exist somewhere, scientists are quite sure that the Bimini Road is not associated with that civilization, nor do they believe that it could have been formed by human hands. Sometimes called the Bimini Wall, this fascinating rocky structure was discovered in 1968, when a private pilot flying over noticed their intriguing structure and decided that further exploration was in order. Since then, extensive research has led modern-day geologists and archaeologists to surmise that the Bimini Road is not manmade at all; they have come to the conclusion that it is a natural feature, composed of native Bahamian beachrock. The blocky, paved look that makes the road so mysterious is due to the fracturing of natural rock joints having broken into rectangular, polygon-shaped, and irregularly shaped rocks that come together to create a mosaic of stone which looks almost as if it was created by a master stone mason. Bands of sediment that have settled between the stones add to the illusion even more, creating a look similar to that of mortar.

It’s easy to visit Bimini, see the mysterious road, and make your own determination regarding its origin. Offering fantastic diving as well as areas shallow enough for snorkelers to explore, the area features depths that average between just 15 and 20 feet.With plentiful marine life that includes a pod of spotted Atlantic dolphins, Bimini Road is fantastic – no matter where it came from.