When snorkelers discovered what appeared to be ancient stonework off the coast of the Greek island of Zakynthos in 2013, archaeologists sent to the site thought the odd rocks might be the ruins of an ancient city. But among the columns, bagel-shaped rings and paving stone‒like rocks, they found no telltale pottery shards or other artifacts. Soon after, geochemist Julian Andrews of England’s University of East Anglia and colleagues dove down to the supposed ruins and collected samples.

Turns out, the so-called Lost City of Zakynthos was built by microbes, not by ancient Greeks. What appear to be submerged Greek ruins are actually the fossilized remains of sediments laid down by methane-chomping microbes millions of years ago, the researchers report in the September Marine and Petroleum Geology. (1)

Given time, everything looks like… everything.

Microbes, humans, all the same.

Watch the Acropolis in all its glory.

It was not made by humans.

It was made by stars and dust.

In the dark universe, a voice is calling.

A small microbe.

Ιn the deepest ocean of a distant planet.

Being there…

Silent.