© Seaunseen / Alan SuttonUnderwater photograph of some of the rectangular blocks that were found off Mafia Island in Tanzania.
Centuries of speculations related to the lost city of Rhapta may have been ended with a discovery made during a helicopter flight over Tanzania's Mafia Island. A set of partially submerged ancient ruins are believed to be the Roman market town, which had become lost to the pages of history.
The discovery took a place when scuba-diver Alan Sutton spotted an unusually-shaped formation in the water while flying in a helicopter off the coast of Tanzania. After a few years of searching for the ruins, he announced his success in a
blog post . It took him three years to discover the ruins of structures resembling an ancient harbor city.
Researchers claim that the ruins cover a large area and there are impressive lines of foundations covered by the thousands of square and oblong blocks.
The size of the blocks varies greatly along the walls. In the area above they are quite large being around 5 meters x 5 meters and 40 cm thick.
The discovery was confirmed by archeologists from the Dar es Salaam University, who agree that the
ruins may very well be the lost city of Rhapta, which was mentioned in an account by Diogenes, a seaman on the India trade, who visited Rhapta. It is known that Rhapta was a coastal Roman trading outpost located in southeast Africa, which became an impressive city during the 1
st century AD. It was described in the Periplus of the Erythraen Sea from c. 50 AD. An author explains that it was the most southerly settlement of Azania, possibly referring to what is now Mafia Island.
Fall patterns of the blocks are clearly evident. In some areas blocks remain on the foundation.
In the 1890s, a German explorer arrived there to find an old Portuguese port. During his adventure, he mapped Mafia Island, which helped Sutton understand the topography of the region. According to the
archaeologist Felix Chami from the University of Dar es Salaam,
''the ruins are that of Rhapta, as the construction techniques, ceramics and location all fit early descriptions of the city''. He believes that the location of the city is not questionable if one relies on descriptions in Roman documents.
The city of Rhapta was may have been the first metropolis in Africa, and was famous for being a trading hub for tortoise shells and metal weapons. It disappeared from the pages of history about 1,600 years ago for unknown reasons. Now, due to Sutton's discovery, researchers may be able to uncover the secrets of the lost city.
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