A circular object weighing hundreds of tons was discovered at the bottom of the biblical Sea of Galilee and could hold a few Middle Eastern secrets, the Associated Press reported.
The monstrous object is made out of boulders and is believed to be 230 feet in diameter. It was discovered during a routine sonar scan in 2003. Scientists have now decided to try and raise money to explore the mysterious object.
"It's very enigmatic, it's very interesting, but the bottom line is we don't know when it's from, we don't know what it's connected to, we don't know its function," said Dani Nadel, an archaeologist at the University of Haifa. "We only know it is there, it is huge and it is unusual."
The exploration will require an underwater excavation, which will most likely be the first ever in the Sea of Galilee. Excavations of that magnitude can be slow and expensive.
After the initial sonar scan, there were some brief dives around the structure. In an article in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology published earlier this year, researchers revealed the structure was asymmetrical and "teeming with fish."
The author of the study concluded that the structure is almost certainly man-made and is constructed from rocks the can be found in the area.
The report said the giant formation, "is indicative of a complex, well-organized society, with planning skills and economic ability."
An archaeologist with Israel Antiquities Authority Yitzhak Paz, who is involved in the project, claimed the sediment build-up suggests it's between 2,000 and 12,000 years old.
"The period is hard for us to determine. No scientific work was carried out there, no excavations, no surveys. We have no artifacts from the structure," Paz said.
There is hardly enough evidence to make a guess at what the structure was used for, but scientists have speculated that some possibilities are a burial site, place of worship, or possibly even a fish nursery.
