One kilometre out in the Mediterranean Sea, near Haifa, Israel, an ancient village lies hidden beneath the waves. It has been so well preserved by the sandy seabed that weevils sit in the grain stores, human skeletons lie undisturbed in their graves, and a mysterious stone circle still stands as it was first erected.
This is Atlit-Yam. The 40,000-square-metre site dates from around 7000 BC, making it one of the earliest - and largest - drowned settlements known. There were no organised streets, so the site is described as a village rather than a city, but its people lived in spacious stone houses, complete with paved floors, courtyards, fireplaces, storage facilities and wells.
The site lay buried for 9000 years until quarrying of sand exposed some of the ancient remains. They were spotted in 1984 by Ehud Galili, a marine archaeologist and member of the Israel Prehistoric Society.
Interesting huh? :)