In Helgoland, a North Frisian island that is now part of Germany again, underwater walls and foundations using six-foot stones have been found. They measure five hundred feet long and surround a hill containing the remains of more structures. This was once a citadel or castle fortified by several concentric walls, now under water. We know that the oceans are rising at about three or four inches every century because of the melting of the ice caps but the studies done in the Mediterranean do not give any regular dating of flooded cities in proportion to how deep they are submerged. The Greek City of Helike abruptly sank in the fourth century BC that relates to the second disaster in the Book but shows that no smooth theory can be applied.
Some areas go up as others go down.
This is particularly true in Scandinavia where the removal of the ice has permitted the peninsula to rise 1500 feet in the last 10,000 years with a present rate of three feet each century. The archaeologist is being forced to join with the geologist, the oceanographer and the new scientists studying gravimetric data from space satellites to discover the ancient coastlines of countries and archaeological sites. Disasters will always happen but the world continues to spin. It is quite encouraging to read of the social recovery of the various peoples described as life goes on with a combination of the old and the new writing another chapter of history. The Book describes how new harbors or mooring were made, citadels rebuilt and of various peoples settling and reclaiming lost land.