HAVANA.- Using a robot submarine to explore Cuba’s seabed,
                   researchers confirmed on Thursday the discovery of some stone
                   structures which could have been constructed by an ancient and
                   unknown civilization thousands of years ago.

                   Experts from a Canadian exploration company said that during the
                   summer they filmed ruins of a possible "lost city" submerged off the
                   coast of the Guanahacabibes Peninsula, on the western tip of the
                   island.

                   After warning that the nature of their discovery is not fully
                   understood, the expedition leader said they would return in January
                   for further research.

                   "It’s a marvelous structure which could possibly have been a great
                   urban center," declared Paulina Zelitsky, Canadian oceanographer
                   from the company Advanced Digital Communications (ADC).

                   "However, it would be completely irresponsible to say what it is,
                   before having all the evidence," she added in a conversation with
                   Reuters.

                   Researchers pointed out that the mysterious structures could have
                   been built at least 6,000 years ago, 1,500 years before the first
                   pyramids in Giza, Egypt.

                   Zelitsky commented that the structures, presumably built on dry land
                   before being covered by the sea, could have been sunk by volcanic
                   activity in the area.

                   In July of 2000, ADC researchers using sonar equipment identified a
                   great platform about 650 meters deep, where symetrically organized
                   stone structures, resembling an urban layout covered in sand, were
                   clearly visible. From above, these structures appeared to be
                   pyramids, roads and buildings, she declared.

                   One year later, in July 2001, the ADC team, its Cuban partner and
                   experts from the Academy of Sciences of Cuba returned to the area
                   on the ship called Ulises and sent a robot submarine, managed by
                   remote control, in order to film parts of the 20-square-kilometer
                   area.

                   That footage confirms the presence of large blocks of granite in
                   circular and perpendicular formations. Most of the blocks, between
                   two and five meters long, were not covered. Others were covered
                   with sediment and the area’s fine white sand.

                   This intriguing discovery provides evidence that Cuba could have
                   been linked to the Yucatan Peninsula by a strip of land, researchers
                   said.

                   "There are lots of new theories about land movement and
                   colonization, and what we are seeing here should provide lots of new
                   and interesting information," Zelitsky said.

                   ADC, which has sophisticated equipment for working in deep waters,
                   is one of the four foreign companies exploring Cuban waters,
                   searching for sunken ships from the colonial era. (REUTERS)