A Mysterious 3,000-Year-Old Castle Has Been Found Under a Lake in Turkey

a reply to: rickymouse

The story says the it's the high alkalinity in the water that has helped keep it preserved. I don't know if that's an effect of the water being high in sodium carbonate, but apparently it is, when a relatively high Ph as well:

The lake water is strongly alkaline (pH 9.7–9.8) and rich in sodium carbonate and other salts, which are extracted by evaporation and used as detergents.

Wiki

originally posted by: SlapMonkey
a reply to: rickymouse

The story says the it's the high alkalinity in the water that has helped keep it preserved. I don't know if that's an effect of the water being high in sodium carbonate, but apparently it is, when a relatively high Ph as well:

The lake water is strongly alkaline (pH 9.7–9.8) and rich in sodium carbonate and other salts, which are extracted by evaporation and used as detergents.

Wiki

Oh, I must have misunderstood it being a salt water lake, it was high in sodium but not salt. Baking soda actually stops things from deteriorating I suppose.

a reply to: SeaWorthy

Thanks for that link.

So, it's still just an educated guess that they attribute it to the Ururtu civilization, but at least it mentions that the determination is based on the fact that the stones used were favored by that civilization. That's one piece to the puzzle.

The pictures definitely don't seem like it sank in some catastrophic sink hole scenario, although I guess that it's still possible. Good pictures, nonetheless, and since there was an underwater photographer/videographer on the team, I'm sure that there will be more images, and hopefully some video, to come.

Well, speaking of, this seems to be video of the castle in question:

Tisk tisk...all that hard work of building a castle gone to waste...errr, ruin. Such a shame to see a castle under water. Probably a war castle too. The mystery is how it came to going down under. Maybe the land sank due to a massive earthquake. Maybe built on artificial land which capsized? Interesting nevertheless.

S&F

The Islamists in Turkey are probably plotting how to get of underwater demolition charges to the site.

A little about Lake Van,

The water level of the lake has often altered dramatically: near Tatvan, Felix Oswald (see Geology of Armenia, 1901) noted a raised beach high above the present level of the lake as well as recently drowned trees. Investigation by Degens and others in the early 1980s determined that the highest lake levels (72 metres (236 ft) above the current height) had been during the last ice age, about 18,000 years ago. Approximately 9,500 years ago there was a dramatic drop to more than 300 metres (980 ft) below the present level. This was followed by an equally-dramatic rise around 6,500 years ago.(2

Similar-but-smaller fluctuations have been seen recently. The level of the lake rose by at least three metres during the 1990s, drowning much agricultural land, and (after a brief period of stability and then retreat) seems to be rising again. The level rose approximately two meters in the ten years immediately prior to 2004

Lake Van

Lake Van has been fairley well core sampled, I've seen them referenced in several papers on climate.
Dating should be fairly easy and accurate.

Wasn't the common practice throughout history to build your castle on high ground? On the tops of hills and plateaus for strength in defending? It seems pretty strange to have one built in such a low area.

a reply to: punkinworks10

I wonder if they have a time frame from when the level would have been low enough and maintained that level long enough for a culture to feel that it was appropriate to build a castle where they did.

originally posted by: Skywatcher2011
Tisk tisk...all that hard work of building a castle gone to waste...errr, ruin. Such a shame to see a castle under water. Probably a war castle too. The mystery is how it came to going down under. Maybe the land sank due to a massive earthquake. Maybe built on artificial land which capsized? Interesting nevertheless.

S&F

The builder just gave up! This guy didnt stop rebuilding until the 4th time it didnt sink...

originally posted by: jjkenobi
Wasn't the common practice throughout history to build your castle on high ground? On the tops of hills and plateaus for strength in defending? It seems pretty strange to have one built in such a low area.

Actually...

The lake surface lies 1,640 meters above sea level.

geocache

originally posted by: SlapMonkey
a reply to: lostbook

People, or Merpeople?

People. Similar to the knight from thr Last Crusade movie who was found alive by Indiana Jones in the company of the Holy Grail.

a reply to: SlapMonkey

There was an extraordinary drought in the area, starting around 2100bc and it lasted for more than 200 years. It was not a drecrease in rainfall, it litterally did not rain for 200 years. Then there was depressed rainfall for another 200 years.
That would depressed lake levels for several hundred more years, allowing for the building of the fortress

originally posted by: jjkenobi
Wasn't the common practice throughout history to build your castle on high ground? On the tops of hills and plateaus for strength in defending? It seems pretty strange to have one built in such a low area.

No.

The common practice was to build it in the place that allowed it to best fulfill the strategic need.

a reply to: SlapMonkey

Ok cool. Just friggin' cool. Thanks for this one.

a reply to: lostbook

You chose...wisely.

a reply to: SlapMonkey

Well, far more than most searching for a monster can claim! Nice find! I wish there were pictures. Hope the lake monster doesn't eat anyone diving to take them!