Bimini road is made up of limestone blocks with most of them cut in a rectangular shape.
Wikimedia CommonsNorth Bimini Island, where Bimini Road is located.
While Atlantis may have been first mentioned by the ancient philosopher Plato, interest in “rediscovering” the fabled lost city only truly took off in the late 19th century. Since then, curious minds have attempted to identify the location of the sunken kingdom — and some have even turned to Bimini Road for potential answers.
But what is Bimini Road? Also known as the Bimini Wall, it is an underwater rock formation near North Bimini island in the Bahamas comprised of somewhat rectangular limestone blocks. It was discovered in 1968, and ever since, researchers have tried to discern whether the structure was man-made, and if so, what its purpose was.
Some have theorized it may have been a wall, pier, or road, hence the name, but it is still largely up for debate. Others have even suggested that Bimini Road may have once been a highway leading to Atlantis — and here’s why.
What Is Bimini Road?
Bimini Road was first discovered in September 1968 by a trio of divers, Joseph Manson Valentine, Robert Angove, and French free diver Jacques Mayol. The men were diving in roughly 18 feet of water off the coast of North Bimini when they noticed a series of stones along the seafloor that seemed to look almost intentionally placed.
Set on a northeast-southwest line, the road runs straight for about half a mile before ending in a curving, graceful hook. Alongside the Bimini Road are two other smaller linear rock formations, that appear similar in design.
The discovery captured the attention of scholars who sought to examine the newly dubbed Bimini Road, hoping to discern who, or what, made the “pavement.” What they found is that Bimini Road is made up of limestone blocks, most of which are in a vaguely rectangular shape. At first glance, it could look like the stones had been intentionally cut with right angles, then weathered over time into a rounder shape.
Gratefldiver, Inc. / Alamy Stock PhotoThe aquamarine coastline of Bimini.
Each of the blocks on the main road is between 10 and 13 feet long, and seven to 10 feet wide, while the two side roads have smaller but equally even blocks. The larger blocks appear to line up with each other, and be arranged in order of size. Some of them even appear to be stacked, as if propped up intentionally.
The limestone that makes up the Bimini Road rocks is specifically a carbonate-cemented shell hash known as “beachrock,” which is native to the Bahamas.
But to the divers who initially discovered it, Bimini Road looked like “pavement.” They believed they were looking at a long, continuous rock, only to then learn that it was a number of smaller stones arranged in a linear formation.
Public DomainA purported map of Atlantis, with south at the top of the map.
Investigations into Bimini Road continued from there, with many researchers coming to the conclusion that Bimini Road was a natural formation. However, there were those — and perhaps still are those — who saw the discovery of Bimini Road as loose confirmation of the ancient civilization of Atlantis.
Had, they asked, the Atlanteans constructed the road? Was it a highway of sorts into their ancient city? Could the road lead us to find Atlantis?
These questions weren’t entirely without basis, though. In fact, their origins pre-date the discovery of Bimini Road itself by nearly 40 years — and they began with a man named Edgar Cayce.
How Edgar Cayce’s Predictions Led To A Connection Between Bimini Road And Atlantis
As geologist Eugene A. Shinn wrote in a 2004 article for the Skeptical Inquirer, Cayce was a mystic “healer” in the 1930s and 1940s. Known as the “Sleeping Prophet,” Cayce made a career out of doing psychic “readings” and making “predictions,” many of which alluded to Atlantis in some fashion.
During one of these readings, Cayce claimed that one of his patients was, in fact, a descendant of Atlanteans. Cayce then asked the patient where Atlantis could be found and reportedly got the answer: “in the Bahamas near Bimini.”
Science History Images / Alamy Stock PhotoEdgar Cayce, an American psychic who claimed to have visions of Atlantis.
“Thus,” Shinn explained, “when someone familiar with his pronouncements discovered the rows of stones in the early 1960s, they were linked with Cayce’s revelation.”
Cayce’s claim, decades earlier, made believers in Atlantis flock to the site. From there, further “evidence” came to light that, to some, pointed to Atlantis. For starters, Bimini is in the Bermuda Triangle, which has long attracted its own paranormal theories and mysticism.
Shinn also described that Bimini had a certain “aura” to it, which some people call a “force field.” As he explained, Bimini was, by the time of the road’s discovery, a popular drop point for drug smuggling. Back in Cayce’s time, it had been a popular spot for liquor smuggling. As a result, Bimini saw a large number of visitors who were there for less than savory reasons. One such visitor was Ernest Hemingwahy’s brother Lester, who claimed that he had found the Fountain of Youth on Bimini and that it had cured his cancer.
All this is to say that many fabled, mystical legends have, for one reason or another, been linked to Bimini. It was only natural, then, that Atlantis would be too. Interest, both paranormal and scholarly, had been piqued. Now, all that was left to do was dive down and see what Bimini Road had to offer.
What Researchers Learned When They Examined Bimini Road
Shinn was among a large wave of researchers who visited Bimini Road in the mid-1970s, though not all were quite as qualified. Among the scientists who visited Bimini Road were countless New Age thinkers, diviners, and Atlantis fanatics.
“A half dozen sailboats had already assembled at the site when we dropped anchor,” Shinn detailed. “The people on the sailboats had dropped more than their anchors: they were all naked. One nude boater swam over and asked, ‘Can’t you feel the force field? It’s strong here.'”
Apparently, some New Age writers had claimed that nudity was a requirement for feeling whatever supposed energy was being emitted by Bimini Road’s stones.
Surrounded by nude swimmers, Shinn and his team began drilling down and removing bits and pieces of Bimini Road so that they could take them back for analysis. The explanation of what they discovered gets bogged down a bit by the process of beachrock formation, but in the simplest terms, beachrock forms beneath the sand, though it is usually unseen because the sand is covering it on most beaches. But if that beach were to erode, the rock beneath becomes visible.
Wikimedia CommonsAn example of beachrock on the shore of Réunion.
Over time, due to exposure from the sun and wave-driven erosion of beach sand, the rock cracks and enlarge, taking on a rounder shape. The end result appears to be a collection of stones that have been neatly fitted together. In other words, Bimini Road is more like a natural sculpture than a road. It was created not by adding and combining, but rather by subtracting and removing.
Carbon dating of samples collected from Bimini Road also showed that the stones were between 2,000 and 4,000 years old. While that is certainly quite ancient, it doesn’t align with the purported age of Atlantis, which Plato had claimed existed thousands of years before his own time.
Of course, the scientific findings did little to sway the opinions of true believers, and mystics continued to peddle the idea that the Bimini Road could pave the way, so to speak, to Atlantis.
Next, check out these satellite images of the lost city of Alexander the Great. Then, check out these seven other lost cities.
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