A team of international archaeologists was able to unearth what may be a long lost island in the Aegean Sea. The ancient city in the Izmir's Dikili district was discovered after experts examined samples of underground rocks in the peninsula.

Researchers from the German Archaeology Institute claim that it is possible for the newly discovered island to be the location of the ancient city of Kane, where Athenians and Spartans fought in the famous battle of Arginusae many centuries ago.

Surface studies made by the geo-archaeologists, which involved analyses of underground samples, revealed that one of the peninsula (the third Arginus island) was part of ancient history and that its distance from the mainland was brimming with rock and loose soil, thus forming the present-day peninsula.

"It was not clear that these lands were actually the Arginus islands that we were looking for until our research," said Dr. Felix Pirson from the institute. He further explained that by studying the geological specimen collected via core-drilling strategies, the team was able to identify the presence of alluviums over time.

Güler Ateş, one of the researchers, said the island could possibly be a major station of large ports back in the day. She said the area appeared to have been a way station among essential routes such as north's Lesbos and Adramytteion (Edremit), and south's ancient city of Pergamon.

The city of Kane was known to have been chosen by Romans to be their harbor during the 191-190 B.C. war against the Seleucid Empire.

The battle of Arginusae happened in the city's southwest region during 406 B.C. The war between the Spartans and Athenians was won by the latter, but their chief leaders were executed later upon return to their country because they did not help injured warriors or even facilitated burial of the dead.

Lost ancient civilizations have been the subject of interest of various researchers. In 2011, a team of American scientists said they had found the lost city of Atlantis. The researchers said the superpower city, which was first discovered by Plato some 2,000 years ago, was the submerged island found in Spain after a deep excavation project.

In 2013, scientists claimed that they found a microcontinent under the sea after Mauritius sand grains were found to exhibit some evidence. They said the little island existed more than nine million years ago after lava ejected by undersea volcanoes cooled down.

Photo: Matt Chan | Flickr