Discover ancient civilization that have disappeared beneath the ocean’s surface and explore how the science of submergence adds to our knowledge of human history.
The traces of much of human history — and that which preceded it — lie beneath the ocean surface; broken up, often buried, and always mysterious. This is fertile ground for speculation, but also a topic on which geologists and climatologists have increasingly focused on in recent years. We now know enough to tell the true story of some of the continents and islands that have disappeared throughout Earth’s history, to explain how such things happened, and to unravel the effects of submergence on the rise and fall of human civilizations.
Worlds in Shadow is the first book to present the science of submergence in a popular format. Patrick Nunn sifts fact from fiction, using the most up-to-date research to work out which submerged places may have actually existed versus those that only exist in myth.
Nunn also examines the presence of older, more ancient lands, that even the longest-reaching folk memory can’t reach. Finally, he considers why and how lands became submerged, whether from sea-level changes, tectonic changes, giant waves or volcanoes, and looks to the future to uncover why, when and where land may disappear in the future, and how to prevent it.
In his engaging and accessible style, Patrick Nunn emphasises the importance of understanding the submerged lands of our past. Featuring research, examples, and stories from around the world, Worlds in Shadow is an important contribution to the science of submergence.