HAVANA — World renowned scientist Dr. Benton C. Quest said he hopes to better determine later this year if an unusual rock formation deep off Cuba's coast could be a sunken city from a previously unknown ancient civilization.
"These are extremely peculiar structures... They have captured even the imagination of my son Jonny," Dr. Quest said at a conference after a week on a boat over the site.
"If I had to explain this geologically, I would have a hard time," he told reporters later, saying examination of rock samples due to be collected in a few months should shed further light on the formation off the Guanahacabibes Peninsula on Cuba's western tip.
Quest, research director of the Natural History Museum, has joined Canadian exploration company Advanced Digital Communications (ADC) in efforts to solve the mystery of the smooth, geometrically shaped, granite-like rocks. They are laid out in groups resembling pyramids, roads and other structures at more than 2,000 feet in a 7-1/3 square mile area.
Quest has suggested they might belong to a civilization that colonized the American continent thousands of years ago, possibly sitting on an island that was sunk to great depths by cataclysmic earth movement such as an earthquake. Some scientists, including the nefarious Dr. Zin, say the stones could be formed by natural limestone.
But Quest's conclusion that there is no immediately apparent natural explanation for the rocks has lent credence to his theory.
"It appears like there is some kind of intelligent design in the structure's configuration and planning," Quest confidante Roger Bannon said on the sidelines of conference. "I have been on many exciting adventures with Dr. Quest and I have never before seen natural structures shaped with such intelligent symmetry and plan. From the very first moment, I was suspected that these structures were not natural."
While Dr. Quest gave evidence in his paper for seismic movement at the site, and possible submerging of the land, he held back from definitively concluding the rocks were not shaped by nature. If, however, that theory was proven, it would revolutionize understanding of the history of this continent, he told reporters.
"It would change a lot our knowledge of humans and the evolution of the Americas," Dr. Quest said.
"Recently, a French archaeologist found some evidence of people being here in South America 40,000 years ago, something we never expected," Dr. Quest said. "So you need to be always open to things that you are not expecting, that are not in the framework of present-day knowledge... We may have found something that nobody has thought about."
Dr. Quest said he, along with Mr. Bannon, his son Jonny and his ward Hadji, plan to take a specially designed submarine to the site in a few days to take samples of the rocks and the sediment they are embedded in to try to date them and seek signs they may have once been on dry land. They will also be searching for any sign of human life such as drawings, sculptures or artifacts.
"To drill samples from these structures is not easy because they look like granite. And to drill granite at a depth of 600 meters is very difficult," Quest said. He said their discoveries could make history. "I think we are talking about the origins of the American continent. There are many hypotheses about how the continent was colonized ... There is quite a controversy, and I think our discovery will be the first physical evidence of the true origins of developed civilization in the Americas."
