Scientists have discovered traces of a city that existed at Alexandria at least seven hundred years before Alexander the Great arrived and the city was founded in 332 B.C.
What was once a city is now part of the sea floor in Alexandria's harbor. But samples of dirt extracted from the sea floor contain remnants of an older settlement that may have flourished there as far back as 1000 B.C.
I find it interesting that Homer mentioned the exact location in the Odyssey, written sometime between 800 and 600 B.C.
Even more interesting is a comment made by Jean-Daniel Stanley, a coastal geoarchaeologist for the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History.
Though the area might have once been a thriving ancient haven, "Virtually nothing is known of the people who would have lived there," says Stanley.
Life... Death... Hopes... Dreams... The million little things that drive us, challenge us, madden us, motivate us, and shape us -- gone. Once a city. Now virtually unknown. Lying dormant on the seafloor while modern refuse piles up on top.
