Mainz (Germany), July 12 (ANI): Olympia, site of the famous Temple of Zeus and original venue of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, was presumably destroyed by repeated tsunamis that travelled considerable distances inland, and not by earthquake and river floods as has been assumed to date.
Evidence in support of this new theory on the virtual disappearance of the ancient cult site on the Peloponnesian peninsula comes from Professor Dr Andreas V?tt of the Institute of Geography of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.
V?tt investigated the site as part of a project in which he and his team are studying the paleotsunamis that occurred along the coastlines of the eastern Mediterranean over the last 11,000 years.
According to his account, the geomorphological and sedimentological findings in the area document that Olympia and its environs were destroyed by tsunami impact.
The site of Olympia, rediscovered only some 250 years ago, was buried under a massive layer of sand and other deposits that is up to eight meters deep.
To date, it has been assumed that the cult site was finally destroyed by an earthquake in 551 AD and later covered by flood deposits of the Kladeos River. (ANI)
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