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Sunken City · Surface only

Kekova, the Lycian Sunken City

Sank 2nd c. AD, Kekova Island, Antalya coast, Turkey
ACCESSIBLE
Evidence status: Historical tradition. no documented source (historical tradition); legal status unknown (manual verification recommended). This account is presented as historical tradition, not verified fact. Manual verification recommended. Repository evidence: 0 sources · 0 timeline events · 0 media items · legal unknown · view on the Map Evidence on file: historical tradition

Kekova, the Lycian Sunken City: still unexplained.

Staircases that walk down off the island into blue water

The law of this ground: Strictly protected, scuba is banned over the ruins; visit by licensed boat, sea kayak, or snorkel along the permitted edge.
The subject
developing the photograph…
The manifest
Staircases that walk down off the island into blue water
The account

An earthquake in the second century dropped half the Lycian town of Dolchiste down the flank of Kekova island. What remains is the most legible drowned city in the Mediterranean: staircases descend from the olive scrub straight into the sea, door frames stand knee-deep, quays lie a fathom down, all of it visible from the surface through water like glass.

Leads, where the trail points now
  • Pin down the most specific last-known position in the record before going; the search centers on Kekova Island, Antalya coast, Turkey.
  • What you are chasing is Staircases that walk down off the island into blue water. Work the documented record of Kekova, the Lycian Sunken City back to primary sources and separate what is attested from folklore.
  • Strictly protected, scuba is banned over the ruins; visit by licensed boat, sea kayak, or snorkel along the permitted edge.
What the record holds

What remains open

  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
What we know, and what we don't
Established

No documentary claim is yet established. The account rests on tradition.

Still open
  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
The evidence room

No documentary or visual exhibits have been located yet. The trail below and the open leads are where this dossier grows next — every exhibit that enters here carries a source.

Where the trail points now
  • Pin down the most specific last-known position in the record before going; the search centers on Kekova Island, Antalya coast, Turkey.
  • What you are chasing is Staircases that walk down off the island into blue water. Work the documented record of Kekova, the Lycian Sunken City back to primary sources and separate what is attested from folklore.
  • Strictly protected, scuba is banned over the ruins; visit by licensed boat, sea kayak, or snorkel along the permitted edge.
  • Search Library of Congress + DPLA (IIIF) for period cartography of the site.
  • Run Chronicling America for dated newspaper mentions.
  • Query NARA for archival records tied to the site.

Have a source, a map, or a clipping? Add a lead and it enters the record with its citation.

Start the hunt here
The first leads, so no one walks in cold.
Sources and the record
Related case files

The full hunt kit

Starting brief, what's known and disputed, evidence timeline, source list, map card, coordinate-confidence and legal-access summaries, and a field checklist, free with a Fellowship account.

Latest Word From the Newswire

Context, not proof. The dossier's own sources remain the evidence record.

Checking the wire…

Chart position 36.190°, 29.860° (approx.) View on the Map