A BREATHTAKING real life Atlantis-style sunken city has been discovered under a lake by boffins – after it was decimated by an earthquake.
Boffins made the groundbreaking discovery beneath the surface of the eighth deepest lake on Earth, located in eastern Kyrgyzstan.
Beneath the water of Lake Issyk Kul, researchers found a medieval necropolis, fired-brick structures, and several extraordinary ceramic artefacts.
During the Middle Ages, the lake reportedly served as a stopover on the iconic Silk Road – a land route for travellers and traders from the Far East to Europe.
Scientists found parts of the incredible city in four zones of the water, at depths of one to four metres.
It was flooded in the Toru-Aygyr complex, which lies near the lake’s northwest point.
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In the first area, they uncovered several fired-brick structures, including one containing a millstone, once used to grind grain into flour.
The team at the Russian Academy of Sciences also found traces of a public building, which they believe could have been a mosque or bathhouse.
One of the researchers said: “The site we are studying was a city or a major trading hub on a key section of the Silk Road.”
A spokesperson for the Russian Geographical Society said: “All this confirms that an ancient city really once stood here.”
The region was long ago devastated by a major earthquake which sunk the settlement under water in the 15th century, according to the scientists.
Scientists believe the area was abandoned by locals before the harrowing disaster.
It was then abandoned for hundreds of years as generations of societies forgot about it.
But later on, nomadic people are believed to have settled there – with some small villages still remaining on the lake’s shore.
In the second zone explored, researchers identified a 13th to 14th century Muslim cemetery.
Corpses were found buried which retained signs of traditional Islamic rituals.
Their skeletons were facing north, with their faces turned toward the direction of the sacred Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
Scientists found two bodies, a man and a woman, and are still analysing the ancient remains.
The third zone revealed evidence of the settlement’s later expansion.
This included additional buildings and an earlier burial site that was eventually replaced by new structures.
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In the fourth zone, round and rectangular structures made of mudbrick were discovered, along with layers of buried soil.
Though the lost city of Atlantis is generally believed to have been made up by the Greek philosopher Plato – some still think the famed metropolis once thrived in the real world.
