Graham Hancock specializes in discovering and exploring underseas cities, the submerged ruins of ancient civilizations whose existence presents a challenge to how archaeologists interpret the development of civilizations thousands of years ago. What will future generations think, therefore, when they discover Ocean Atlas, a massive 60-ton statue of a girl beneath the surface of the sea off the coast of Nassau in the Bahamas? Will they think that the locals worshipped her? Or that she was a princess? Or will they simply shrug and acknowledge the beauty of the eighteen-foot sculpture designed by Jason deCaires Taylor?
Taylor’s sculpture is not just about making an interesting tourist attraction for scuba divers to photograph. It was made using “a special pH-neutral cement that will allow reef organisms to thrive on its surface,” which will “allow new reefs to grow where none existed before and draw tourists away from over-worked diving hotspots.” This is not the first underwater sculpture Taylor has done. In fact, he created the world’s first underwater sculpture park. If people still like to go scuba-diving in thousands of years, no doubt they will be taking selfies beside Ocean Atlas … or else carting her off to a museum and labeling her a twenty-first century religious artifact.
Ocean Atlas by Jason deCaires Taylor
