Location hypotheses of Atlantis

Atlantis is the subject of a legend about an advanced island civilization that was destroyed or lost. The story of Atlantis was first mentioned around 360 B.C. in Plato's dialogues "Timaeus" and "Critias", in which a character named Critias claims the land was destroyed by an earthquake or a tsunami about 9,300 years previously. The story claimed that Atlantis could be found “in front of” or “before” the Pillars of Hercules.

In or near the Mediterranean Sea

Many theories of Atlantis center on the Mediterranean. In part because of the Ancient Greek myth which is the first written record of Atlantis, but also because it was a "superhighway" of transport in ancient times, allowing for trade and cultural exchange between emergent peoples of the region.Clarifyme|date=March 2008 Some of the more popular theories include the Minoan civilization on Santorini and Crete, the island of Sardinia, Malta as well as some river valley civilizations.

Andalusia

Andalusia is a region in modern day southern Spain and host to the lost city of Tartessos, which disappeared in the 6th century BC. The Tartessians were traders and were known to the Ancient Greeks who knew of their legendary king Arganthonios. Werner Wickboldt suggests that the war of the Atlanteans refers to the war of the Sea Peoples who attacked the Eastern Mediterranean countries around 1200 BC and the city of Tartessos Iron Age (800-500 BC) may have been built at the site of the ruined Atlantis. This localisation was strongly supported by Rainer W. Kühne in his article that appeared in the journal "Antiquity". [cite web |title=A location for "Atlantis"? |author=Rainer W. Kühne |publisher=Antiquity.ac.uk |month=June | year=2004 |accessdate=2006-08-10 |url=http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/kuhne/ ] . Rainer W. Kühne extended this theory [Rainer W. Kühne: "Did Ulysses Travel to Atlantis?" in : "Science and Technology in Homeric Epics" (ed. S. A. Paipetis), Series: History of Mechanism and Machine Science, Vol. 6, Springer, 2008, ISBN: 978-1-4020-8783-7

http://www.springer.com/engineering/mechanical+eng/book/978-1-4020-8783-7

] . The Andalusian hypothesis was originally developed by the Spanish authors José Pellicer de Ossau i Tovar (in 1673), who suggested that the metropolis of Atlantis was between the islands Mayor and Menor, located almost in the center of the Doñana Marshes [Joseph Pellicer de Ossau y Tovar (Spaniard). Aparato a la mvonarchia antigua de las Españas en los tres tiempos del mundo, el adelon, el mithico y el historico : primera parte... / por don Ioseph Pellicer de Ossau y Touar... (En Valençia : por Benito Macè..., 1673 (the first extensive study about Atlantis in Iberia, with the hypothesis about Doñana) ] , and by Juan Fernández Amador y de los Ríos (in 1919), who suggested that the metropolis of Atlantis was located precisely where today are the 'Marismas de Hinojo' [Juan Fernández Amador de los Ríos (Spaniard). Antigüedades ibéricas / por Juan Fernández Amador de los Rios. Pamplona : Nemesio Aramburu, 1911. (first part about the Atlantis in Iberia, with the hypothesis about Doñana, Sea Peoples, etc.)] , in the same place where in 1997 independent of earlier researches the german teacher Werner Wickboldt pinpointed the main site of Atlantis [Werner Wickboldt: Locating the capital of Atlantis by strict observation of the text by Plato. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on "The Atlantis Hypothesis: Searching for a Lost Land"(Milos island 2005) . Athen 2007. ISBN 978-960-89882-1-7 pp.517-524] , and afterwards by the German author Adolf Schulten in 1922, and further studied by Otto Jessen and Richard Hennig in the 1920s, and from 2000 is defended by Georgeos Diaz-Montexano [Magazine "Más Allá de la Ciencia", March-April of the 2000 (nº 134), where was published a report about the Georgeos Díaz-Montexano's theory of Atlantis between Andalusia and Morocco.] . On the tops of two small elevations inside the marsh of Doñana, according Werner Wickboldt, Satellite images show two rectangular shapes which have been hypothesized to be the "temple of Poseidon" and "the temple of Cleito and Poseidon". [cite news |title=Satellite images 'show Atlantis |author=Paul Rincon |publisher=BBC News |date=June 6, 2004 |accessdate=2006-08-10 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3766863.stm ] On satellite images parts of several "rings" are recognizable which agree in their proportionen with the ring system by Plato. [Werner Wickboldt: Locating the capital of Atlantis by strict observation of the text by Plato. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on "The Atlantis Hypothesis: Searching for a Lost Land"(Milos island 2005). Athen 2007. ISBN 978-960-89882-1-7 pp.517-524] . It is not known if any of these shapes are natural or manmade and archaeological excavations are planned. [http://www.beepworld.de/members/archiv_rainer_kuehne_17/ Search for Tartessos-Atlantis in the Donana National Park] Geologists have shown that the Doñana National Park experienced intense erosion from 4000 BC until century IX AD, where it became a marine environment. For thousands of years until the Medieval Age, all that occupied the area of the modern Marshes Doñana was a gulf or inland sea-arm, but there was not even a small island with sufficient space to house a small village. [A. Rodriguez-Ramirez et al., Recent coastal evolution of the Doñana National Park (SW Spain), in: Quaternary Science Reviews, Vol. 15 (1996) pp.803 -809] [Paleogeografía de las costas atlánticas de Andalucía durante el Holoceno medio-superior : prehistoria reciente, protohistoria y fases históricas / Francisco Borja BarreraEn: Tartessos : 25 años después, 1968-1993 : Jerez de la Frontera, 1995, ISBN 84-87194-64-8, pags. 73-97]

Black Sea

German researchers Siegfried and Christian Schoppe locate Atlantis in the Black Sea. Before 5500 BC, a great plain lay in the northwest at a former freshwater-lake. In 5510 BC, rising sea level topped the barrier at today's Bosporus. They identify the Pillars of Hercules with the Strait of Bosporus. [cite web|url=http://www.black-sea-atlantis.com/black-sea-atlantis/|author=Siegfried Schoppe and Christian Schoppe|title=Atlantis in the Black Sea|date=2004-08-12|accessdate=2006-08-11] They gave no explanation how the ships of the merchants coming from all over the world had arived the harbour of Atlantis when it was 350 feet below global sea-level.

They claim Oreichalcos means the obsidian stone that used to be a cash-equivalent at that time and was replaced by the spondylus shell around 5500 BC, which would suit the red, white, black motif. The geocatastrophic event led to the neolithic diaspora in Europe, also beginning 5500 BC.

In 2000, the "Guardian" reported that Robert Ballard, in a small submarine, found remains of human habitation around 300 feet underwater in the Black Sea off the north coast of Turkey. The area flooded around 5000 BC. This flood is also believed to have inspired the Biblical story of Noah's Ark known as the Black Sea deluge theory.

Another candidate bordering the Black Sea, suggested by Hasan Umur in the 1940s, would be Ancomah , a legendary place near Trabzon.Fact|date=February 2007

ea of Azov

The Atlantis Motherland book, by F. Eagle and M. Wind, 2003, present evidence that the island of Atlantis was a man-made island, which was created by digging an “incredible ditch” around a vast fertile plain located north of the Black Sea. Catastrophic tectonic action caused the plain to sink. The Caspian Sea, which was swollen from the massive flooding at the end of the Younger Dryas Ice Age, dramatically inundated the plain, creating the Sea of Azov, in 9,600 BC. Eagle/Wind locates the city of Atlantis at Kerch, Crimea, Ukraine, which is the site of the ancient city of Panticapaeum.

Santorini

Soon after the discovery of the Minoan civilization at Knossus on Crete by Sir Arthur Evans in 1900, theories linking the disappearance of this advanced empire with the destruction of Atlantis were proposed. [citation |last=Cook |first=Joel |publisher=The John C. Winston Co. |location=Philadelphia |year=1910 |title=The Mediterranean and Its Borderlands, Vol II: Eastern Countries |pages=112 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=3w0jAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA112 |accessdate=2008-03-11 ] More recent archaeological, seismological, and vulcanological evidence [citeweb |title=Santorini Eruption (~1630 BC) and the legend of Atlantis |url=http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/santorini.html |accessdate=2008-03-09] [citeweb |title=Ye gods! Ancient volcano could have blasted Atlantis myth |last=Vergano |first=Dan |date=2006-08-27 |publisher= USA Today |url=http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2006-08-27-ancient-volcano_x.htm |accessdate=2008-03-09] citeweb |last=Lilley |first=Harvey |date=20 April 2007 |title=The wave that destroyed Atlantis |publisher= BBC Timewatch |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6568053.stm |accessdate=2008-03-09] (popularized on The History Channel show "Lost Worlds" episode "Atlantis" citeweb |title=Lost Worlds: CGI: Atlantis |publisher=History.com |url=http://www.history.com/media.do?id=lostworlds_atlantis_broadband&action=clip |accessdate=2008-03-09 ] citeweb |url=http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/tv_guide/full_details/World_history/programme_3306.php |title=Lost Worlds: Atlantis |publisher=History Channel UK |accessdate=2008-03-11] ) has expanded the asserted connection of Crete, the island of Santorini, and the Minoan civilization with Plato's description of Atlantis. According to this theory:

* The Minoan palace and buildings discovered at the digs at Knossus on Crete and at Akrotiri on the island of Santorini have revealed that the Minoans possessed advanced engineering knowledge enabling the construction of three- and four-story buildings with intricate water piping systems, advanced air-flow management, and earthquake-resistant wood and masonry walls. This level of technology was, it is said, far ahead of that found on mainland Greece at the time.

*Santorini (previously called Thera) is the site of a massive volcanic caldera with an island at its center. Vulcanologists have determined that the island was engulfed by a volcanic eruption around 1600 BC. The event, referred to as the Minoan eruption, was among the most powerful eruptions occurring in the history of civilization, ejecting approximately 60 km³ of material, leaving a layer of pumice and ash 10 to 80 meters thick for 20 to 30 km in all directions and having widespread affects across the entire Mediterranean region. cite web|url=http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/?id=3654|title=Santorini eruption much larger than originally believed|date=August 23, 2006|accessdate=2007-03-10] Volcanic events of this magnitude are known to generate tsunamis and archaeological evidence suggests that such a tsunami may have devastated the coastal Minoan settlements on Crete. Plato did not specifically describe a volcanic eruption, although the events he described as "sunk by an earthquake" or "violent earthquakes, and only a flood (in singular)"; and perhaps this could be intrepreted as consistent with such an eruption and the resulting tsunami. cite web |url=http://www.decadevolcano.net/santorini/atlantis.htm |accessdate=2008-07-12 |title=SANTORINI AND THE LEGEND OF ATLANTIS: THE MINOAN ERUPTION ON SANTORINI AS POSSIBLE ORIGIN?]

*Plato described quarries on Atlantis where "one kind of stone was white, another black, and a third red" [cite book |title=The Secret of Plato's Atlantis |year=1885 |last=Arundell |pages=92 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=oEQSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA92 |accessdate=2008-07-12] , writing that these stones were quarried from the island and used in the construction. Rocks like this are found on Santorini; but this is none significant evidence, since in almost all parts of the planet are red rocks, white rocks and black rocks.

*Atlantis was described as being laid out in circular manner, surrounded by three circular concentric pits of seawater and two earth-rings, each connected to the sea by a deep canal. Docks for a large number of ships, with a causeway, were also mentioned. Scientists attempting to reconstruct the shape of the island prior to the eruption have concluded that the there was a ring configuration (but no similar to Atlantis acropolis) to that of present day Santorini. [citeweb |url=http://www.decadevolcano.net/santorini/preminoan.htm |accessdate=2008-07-12 |title=MODELS OF THE PRE-MINOAN ISLAND (prior to ca. 1645 BC)] One fresco also shows a large city on the island, which some archaeologists think represent the center of the caldera.

Turkey

Peter James, in his book "The Sunken Kingdom", identifies Atlantis with the kingdom of Zippasla. He argues that Solon did indeed gather the story on his travels, but in Lydia, not Egypt as Plato states; that Atlantis is identical with Tantalis, the city of Tantalus in Asia Minor, which was (in a similar tradition known to the Greeks) said to have been destroyed by an earthquake; that the legend of Atlantis' conquests in the Mediterranean is based on the revolt by King Madduwattas of Zippasla against Hittite rule; that Zippasla is identical with Sipylus, where Greek tradition placed Tantalis; and that the now vanished lake to the north of Mount Sipylus was the site of the city. [cite book |last=James |first=Peter |title=The Sunken Kingdom. The Atlantis Mystery Solved |publisher=Jonathan Cape |year=1995]

Near Cyprus

In 2004, CNN reported that Robert Sarmast, an , claimed to have found the lost city of Atlantis on November 14 that year, saying that by using sonar scans he was able to find man made walls that matched the description of the structures described by Plato. [ [http://scatoday.net/node/3138 "Legendary Atlantis Found?" - scatoday.net] ] [cite news |title="Atlantis, the fabled lost continent chronicled by Plato, has been found — again and again". |author= |publisher=Time Magazine |date=November 21, 2004 |accessdate=2006-08-10 |url=http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901041129-785322,00.html ] The site lies 1,500 m deep in the Mediterranean Sea between Cyprus and Syria. Several geologists were quick to dispute the claim, as the place was deep under water during the period in question.

On August 4 2005, research was carried out by Robert Sarmast in the Eastern Mediterranean sea between Cyprus and Syria. The sonar scans showed evidence of man-made structures one mile below sea level, which were possibly canal walls. Fact|date=December 2007 Sarmast claimed it was a 3 km-long straight wall intersected at right angles by another wall. [ [http://www.discoveryofatlantis.com discoveryofatlantis.com] ] Research carried out by several geophysicists and geologists concluded that the walls appeared to be volcanic formations known as mud diapirs. Sarmast's claim was therefore considered to be a "baseless statement that Atlantis [had] been discovered". [ [http://www.mysterious-america.net/cyprus-atlantis2.html Cyprus-Atlantis 2006 ] ]

Middle East

Jaime Manuschevich argues that the real place of the mythical civilization is the territory that today corresponds to Palestine and Sinai, ["The Atlantis, the deciphered myth"; Jaime Manuschevich, (2002)] and that this region was an island in the Great Rift Valley, [Ryan and Pitman] surrounded by the Jezreel Valley on the north, the Dead Sea and Red Sea on the east and the Gulf of Suez and the Mediterranean Sea on the west until 5600 BC. In addition, Manuschevich proposes that Atlantean civilization corresponds to the Natufian peoples, the first food-producing people, whose main political and harbor center was Jericho. These people lived in the region in the dates established by Plato (11,600 BC).

Malta

Anton Mifsud who, with co-authors Simon Mifsud, Chris Agius Sultana and Charles Savona Ventura, published "Malta: Echoes of Plato's Island" added another recent hypothesis. Their book is the product of a research about the archaeological sites and ancient remains in Malta related to Atlantis.

Frances Galea in his book "Malta Fdal Atlantis" also wrote about the results of his lifelong research on several ancient studies and known hypotheses on Atlantis, particularly that of Giorgio Grognet, the renowned Maltese architect, who in 1854 claimed that the Maltese Islands are the remnants of Atlantis.

Furthermore, German businessman Doctor Hubert Zeitlmair claims that Malta was "a highly powered microwave system" and offers tours of Malta , which he calls the center of Atlantis [http://www.maltadiscovery.org/en/#guided_journeys,03_Journeys/01.htm MALTADISCOVERY] .

Sicily

Thorwald C. Franke identifies the island of Sicily with Plato's Atlantis. [Conference Paper 2008 http://www.atlantis-scout.de/atlantis_sicily.htm (English)] [Thorwald C. Franke: Mit Herodot auf den Spuren von Atlantis, Norderstedt 2006 (German)] The main issues of his hypothesis are as follows:
* Analogy of the wars of the Sea Peoples (around 1200 BC) with Plato's account. Italian peoples as driving forces of the Sea Peoples movement. Analogy of Herodotus' errornous 11340 years of age for Egypt with Plato's 9000 years.
* An Egyptian horicontal shift of the straits of Atlantis from the Straits of Messina to Gibraltar between the time of the Sea Peoples and the time of Solon and Plato.
* Derivation of the name "Atlas" from the name "Italos" via the Middle Egyptian language. Main part of the Atlantean people had been the Sicels.
* Plato's descriptions of the city of Atlantis meant the sanctuary of the Palici on Sicily (Twin brothers, similar procreation myth, low mountain near to plain, two fountains etc.)
* The destruction of the island of Atlantis didn't happen but was Egyptian theopolitical propaganda.

Greater Sicily

Some Atlantis researchers believe that Atlantis existed in prehistoric times on an island formed by addition of Sicily, Malta, Lampedusa etc., due to a lower sea level. They search for the city of Atlantis south to Sicily. These are e.g. Axel Hausmann [Atlantis Conference Milos 2005 Proceedings, Athens 2007] [Axel Hausmann: Atlantis – Die versunkene Wiege der Kulturen, Aachen 2004 (German).] , Rosario Vieni [Atlantis Conference Milos 2005 Proceedings, Athens 2007] , Massimo Rapisarda [La Repubblica 11/21/2006 "Atlantide? Sepolta a Marsala"] . With Sergio Frau they share the believe, that the Straits of Hercules once had been located at the Straits of Sicily between Tunisia and Sicily.

ardinia

In 2002 the Italian journalist Sergio Frau published a book, "Le colonne d'Ercole" ("Pillars of Hercules"), in which he states that before Eratosthenes, all the ancient Greek writers located the Pillars of Hercules on the Strait of Sicily between Sicily and Tunisia, while only Alexander the Great's conquest of the east obliged Eratosthenes to move the pillars at Gibraltar in his description of the world. [Frau, Sergio, "Le colonne d'Ercole", NurNeon, ISBN 88-900740-0-0]

According to his thesis, the Atlantis described by Plato could be identified with Sardinia. He argues that a tsunami once hit Sardinia which destroyed the enigmatic Nuragic civilization and that the survivors migrated to the nearby Italian peninsula, founding the Etruscan civilization (which is now thought to have come from the Eastern Mediterranean).

In April 2005, the theories of the Sergio Frau were debated at a conference organized by UNESCO in Paris. At the same time, an exposition of his findings was on display in the UNESCO building. [cite news |title="exhibition "Atlantika: Sardinia, Mythical Island". |author= |publisher=UNESCO Press release |date=April 26, 2005 |accessdate=2006-08-10 |url=http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=26682&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html ]

Troy

The geoarchaeologist Eberhard Zangger has proposed the hypothesis that Atlantis was in fact the city state of Troy. He both agrees and disagrees with Rainer W. Kühne: He too believes that the Trojans-Atlanteans were the sea peoples, but only a minor part of them. He proposes that all Greek speaking city states of the Aegean civilization or Mycenae constituted the sea peoples and that they destroyed each other's economies in a series of semi-fratricidal wars lasting several decades. [cite book |last=Zangger |first=Eberhard |authorlink=Eberhard Zangger |title=The Flood from Heaven: Deciphering the Atlantis Legend |publisher=William Morrow & Company |year= 1992 |id=ISBN 0-688-11350-8]

In the Atlantic Ocean

When Plato spoke of the "Ocean of Atlantis", he may have been speaking of the area that we now call the "Atlantic Ocean". The ocean's name, derived from Greek mythology, means the "Sea of Atlas". Plato remarked that, in describing the origins of Atlantis, this area was allotted to Poseidon. But in Ancient Greek times the terms "Ocean" and "Atlas" both referred to the 'Giant Water' which surrounded the main landmass known at that time by the Greeks, which could be described as Eurafrasia (although this whole supercontinent was far from completely known to the Ancient Greeks), and thus this water mass was considered to be the 'end of the (known) world', for the same reason the name "Atlas" was given to the mountains near the Ocean, the Atlas Mountains, as they also denoted the 'end of the (known) world'.

Azores Islands

One of the suggested places for Atlantis is around the Azores Islands, a group of islands belonging to Portugal located about 900 miles (1500 km) west of the Portuguese coast. Some people believe the islands could be the mountain tops of Atlantis. The Azores are steep-sided volcanic seamounts that drop rapidly 1000 metres (about 3300 feet) to a plateau. [Ryall, J. C., Blanchard, M.-C., and Medioli, F., 1983, A subsided island west of Flores, Azores. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. vol. 20, pp. 764-775. ] Cores taken from the plateau and other evidence shows that this area has been an undersea plateau for millions of years. [Huang, T. C., Watkins, N. D., and Wilson, L., 1979, Deep-sea tephra from the Azores during the past 300,000 years: eruptivecloud height and ash volume estimates. Geological Society of America Bulletin, Part II, pp. 235-288. ]

Ignatius L. Donnelly, an American congressman, was perhaps the first one to talk about this possible location in his book "Atlantis: The Antediluvian World". [cite book
last = Donnelly
first = Ignatius L.
authorlink = Ignatius L. Donnelly
title = The Atlantis Blueprint: Unlocking the Ancient Mysteries of a Long-Lost Civilization
publisher = Kessinger Publishing
date= 2003-03
doi =
id = ISBN 0-7661-3606-X ]

Also, in his book "The Riddles of Three Oceans", Alexander Kondratov, a Soviet linguist and compiler of legendary and geological evidence of the sinking of lands [http://www.quantavolution.org/vol_04/lately_tortured_earth_18.htm] , writes, "...west of Gibraltar there is a vast area of shallow banks and seamounts where the earth's crust has subsided catastrophically and the area has repeatedly been shaken by violent earthquakes." This claim has been refuted by the data from boreholes by the Deep Sea Drilling Project. [ Ryan, W.B.F., et al., 1973. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., p. 514.]

Canary Islands, Madeiras and Cape Verde

In "The Problem of Atlantis" Lewis Spence identified these islands as what was left of the easterly part of Atlantis when it broke up.

Estremadura, Portugal

This theory states that Atlantis was the Chalcolithic civilization at Vila Nova de Sao Pedro and that Mycenean Greeks would have fought against them for the control of tin routes in alliance with neighbouring Iberian civilization of El Argar, which shows some clear Hellenization in its B phase. The catastrophe described would be an earthquake with tsunami like the one suffered by Lisbon in 1755.

The recent location of a "sea branch" reaching Zambujal (the main city of this culture) and the evidence that it was silted somehow when VNSP ended [http://www.dainst.org/index.php?id=595&sessionLanguage=en] , seem to add some weight to this theory.

Britain and Ireland

In his book "Atlantis of the West: The Case For Britain's Drowned Megalithic Civilization", Paul Dunbavin argues that a large island once existed in the Irish Sea and that this island was Atlantis. He argues that this Neolithic civilization in Europe was partially drowned by rising sea levels caused by a comet impact that caused a pole shift and changed the earth's axis around 3100 BC. [cite book
last = Dunbavin
first = Paul
authorlink = Paul Dunbavin
title = Atlantis of the West: The Case For Britain's Drowned Megalithic Civilization
publisher = Carroll & Graf Publishers
date= 2003-06
doi =
id = ISBN 0-7867-1145-0 ]

England

On December 29, 1997, Russian scientists believed to have found Atlantis in the ocean 100 miles off Land's End, England. Little Sole Bank, a relatively shallow area, is believed to be the capital of Atlantis. This may have been based on the myth of Lyoness. [cite news |title="Russians seek Atlantis off Cornwall" |author= |publisher=BBC News |date=1997-12-29 |accessdate=2006-08-11 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/43172.stm ]

Ireland

This idea was presented in the book "Atlantis from a Geographer's Perspective: Mapping the Fairy Land" (2004) by Swedish geographer Dr. Ulf Erlingsson from Uppsala University. It hypothesized that the empire of Atlantis refers to the Neolithic Megalithic tomb culture, based on their similar geographic extent, and deduced that the island of Atlantis then must correspond to Ireland. The similarities of size and landscape were found to be statistically significant, while the null hypothesis (that Plato invented Atlantis as fiction) was rejected. [cite book
last = Erlingsson, Dr.
first = Ulf
authorlink =
title = Atlantis from a Geographer's Perspective
publisher = Lindorm Publishing
date= 2004-09
doi =
id = ISBN 0-9755946-0-5 ]

Based on this result, the speculation was made that the capital of Atlantis could be connected with Newgrange, Knowth, and Tara, Ireland. As regards the sinking of Atlantis, it was suggested that it is a memory from another time and place, notably the Dogger Bank area. It was an island that sank in the North Sea about 6100 BC. While the world sea level rose gradually as the Ice Age ice sheets melted, there was a sudden sea level rise at this time due to the final drainage of Lake Agassiz. At about the same time a tsunami from the Storegga Slide is believed to have devastated the island in the manner described by Plato. (See also entry on North Sea below.)

Other hypotheses place the location of Atlantis between Britain and France on the Celtic Shelf. [cite web|url=http://www.grahamhancock.com/underworld/CrispDanAtlantis.php?p=3|first=Dan|last=Crisp|publisher=grahamhancock.com|title="Atlantis was a Real Place"|date=] This hypothesis was first developed seriously by Lewis Spence and has been recently revived by some oceanographers.

North Sea

The North Sea is known to contain lands that were once above water. The medieval town of Dunwich in East Anglia, for example, has since crumbled into the sea, and prehistoric remains have been dredged up from the Dogger Bank. [cite web | name = Times| title = "Britain’s Atlantis under the North Sea" | date = 2007-09-02| url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2368630.ece | accessdate = 2008-05-12] Atlantis itself has been identified with the island of Heligoland off the north-west German coast by the author [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%BCrgen_Spanuth Spanuth, Jürgen] , [cite book
last = Spanuth
first = Jurgen
authorlink =
title = Atlantis of the north
publisher = Scientists of New Atlantis
date= 2000-11-01
doi =
id = ISBN 1-57179-078-0 ] who postulates that it was destroyed during the Bronze Age around 1200 BC, only to partially re-emerge during the Iron Age. Ulf Erlingsson hypothesized that the island that sank referred to Dogger Bank, and the city itself referred to the Silver Pit meteorite impact crater at the base of Dogger Bank. There is also the Oera Linda Book, which states that a land called Atland once existed in the North Sea, but was destroyed in 2194 BC.

Denmark

In his book "The Celts", author Gerald Herm links the origins of the Atlanteans to end of the ice age and the flooding of eastern coastal Denmark.

Finland

Finnish eccentric Ior Bock locates Atlantis in the Baltic sea, at southern part of Finland where he claims a small community of people lived during the Ice Age. This was possible due to Gulf Stream which brought warm water to the Finnish coast. This is a small part of a large that he claims to have been told in his family through the ages, dating back to the development of language itself. The family saga tells the name Atlantis comes from Swedish words "allt-land-is" ("all-land-ice") and refers to the last Ice-Age. Thus in the Bock family saga it's more a time period than an exact geographical place. According to this the Atlantis disappeared in 8016 BC when the Ice-Age ended in Finland and the ice melted away. [cite web|url=http://www.bocksaga.com/links.html|first=Ior|last=Bock|publisher=bocksaga.com|title=Atlantis rising magazine|date=See also: Bock, Ior. "Bockin perheen saaga". Helsinki 1996. ISBN 952-5137-00-7]

Sweden

Olaus Rudbeck wrote "Atland" ("Atlantica"), where he argues that Scandinavia, specifically Sweden, is identical with Atlantis.

Other locations

There have been suggestions for Atlantis to be placed outside of the Mediterranean Sea or the Atlantic Ocean. While such theories may have geological or other merit, such locations would tend to fall outside of the known world of the original sources of the legend.

Antarctica

The theory that Antarctica was Atlantis was particularly fashionable during the 1960s and 1970s, spurred on partly both by the isolation of the continent, H. P. Lovecraft's novella "At the Mountains of Madness", and also the Piri Reis map, which purportedly shows Antarctica as it would be ice free, suggesting human knowledge of that period. Charles Berlitz, Erich Von Däniken and Peter Kolosimo have been amongst those popular authors who made this proposal.

More recently Rand and Rose Flem-Ath have proposed this in their book, "When the Sky Fell"; the theory was revised and made more specific in Rand's work with author Colin Wilson, in "The Atlantis Blueprint" (published in 2002). The second workings theorized that Atlantis was to be found in Lesser Antarctica, near the coast of the Ross Ice Shelf. A geological theory known as "Earth Crust Displacement" forms the basis of their work. The Atlantis Blueprint uses both scientific and pseudoscientific (such as mere speculation and assumptions) means to back up the theory. [cite book
last =
first =
authorlink = Colin Wilson, Rand Flem-Ath and Rand Flem-Ath
title = The Atlantis Blueprint: Unlocking the Ancient Mysteries of a Long-Lost Civilization
publisher = Delta; Reprint edition
date= May 28, 2002
doi =
id = ISBN 0-440-50898-3 ]

Charles Hapgood came up with the "Earth Crustal Displacement theory". Hapgood's theory suggests that Earth's outer crust is able to move upon the upper mantle layer rapidly up to a distance of 2,000 miles, placing Atlantis in Antarctica, when considering the movements of the crust in the past. It is to be noted that Albert Einstein was one of the few voices to answer Hapgood's theory. Einstein wrote a preface for Hapgood's book "Earth's shifting crust", published in 1958. This theory is particularly popular with Hollow Earthers, and can be seen as a mirror of the Hyperborean identification. [cite book
last =
first =
authorlink = Charles Hapgood
title = Earth's shifting crust: A key to some basic problems of earth science
publisher = Pantheon Books
year= 1958
doi =
id = ASIN B0006AVEEU ] In his book "Fingerprints of the Gods", author Graham Hancock argues for the Earth Crustal Displacement theory in general, and the Atlantis/Antarctica connection specifically, then goes on to propose archaeological exploration of Antarctica in search of Atlantis.

The Earth Crust Displacement theory was only one of the theories presented in a more recent book by author Stel Pavlou, in his 2001 seminal bestselling novel "Decipher". He proposed that a solar cycle caused a polar shift which led to the Earth/Crust displacement responsible for Atlantis's disappearance from warmer climates. He proposed that many ancient religions and languages, among others the Egyptian myths surrounding Pyramids stemmed from an early "universal" language, including Aymara, that contained messages about what had happened in the past. These ideas have since been copied in later, lesser novels. Ideas such as these have also been entertained in the Stargate Universe.

What is now known about the Quaternary and Holocene history of Antarctica completely discredits any hypothesis about it being the location of Atlantis. Mapping and dating of the edges of the Antarctic ice sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum; mapping and dating of glacial erratics, tills, and striations within now ice-free areas; microfossils from post-glacial lake deposits; coring and analysis of glacial tills and marine sediments underlying the Ross and Wedell seas; coring and analysis of ice cores; and other research has accumulated an enormous amount of data that has disproved the various hypotheses that any sizable part of Antarctica was sufficiently ice-free and temperate in climate during the last 100,000 years and earlier to have supported any civilization. [Anderson, J.B., S.S. Shipp, A.L. Lowe, J.S. Wellner, J.S., and A.B. Mosola, 2002, "The Antarctic Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum and its subsequent retreat history: a review." Quaternary Science Reviews. vol. 21, pp. 49-70.] [Ingolfsson, O., 2004, [http://www.hi.is/~oi/AG-326%202006%20readings/Antarctica/Ingolfsson_SUMMARY.pdf "Quaternary glacial and climate history of Antarctica"] , 2 MB PDF file, in: J. Ehlers and P.L. Gibbard, eds., pp. 3-43, Quaternary Glaciations - Extent and Chronology, Part III. Elsevier, New York. ] This research soundly refutes Flem-Ath’s proposal that lesser (West) Antarctica was ice-free and temperate prior to 9,600 B.C. (11,600 B.P.) [Evans, J., C.J. Pudsey, C. O´Cofaigh, P. Morris, and E. Domack, 2005, "Late Quaternary glacial history, flow dynamics and sedimentation along the eastern margin of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet." Quaternary Science Reviews. vol. 24, pp. 741–774.] [Ingolfsson, O., C. Hjort and O. Humlum, 2003, [http://www.hi.is/~oi/PDF%20reprints/Ingolfsson,%20Hjort%20and%20Humlum%20aaar%202003.pdf "Glacial and Climate History of the Antarctic Peninsula Since the Last Glacial Maximum"] , 392 KB PDF file, Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research. vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 175-186. ] [Bentley, M.J., C.J. Fogwill, P.W. Kubik, and D.E. Sugden, 2006, [http://bulletin.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/118/9-10/1149 "Geomorphological evidence and cosmogenic 10Be/26Al exposure ages for the Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet."] Geological Society of America Bulletin. vol. 118, no. 9-10, pp. 1149–1159.]

Australia

In early 1900 some archeologists claimed that Atlantis may have been a part of Australia's coastFact|date=April 2008. Many point to the similarities as described in the plants, climate and locations which point to either North Queensland or possibly the Torres Strait Islands. This part of Australia is very isolated and has a number of uncharted and small islands in the region, many of them big enough to be Atlantis. While no recorded artifacts have been found in this area, there are a number of Aboriginal legends that say a group of people did indeed live in the area. Many experts have come to reject the theory however some say it could have been very probable.Fact|date=April 2008

Bahama Bank and Caribbean

There is some evidence of sunken island off Central America, which have been pushed by Z.A. Simon as an Atlantis site Fact|date=February 2007. In the area, peat and caves with stalactites and stalagmites were found, both of which only form in the open air and were dated between 5600 BC and 10,000 BC. The surrounding topology has also been suggested to be submerged valleys of ancient rivers and mountain ranges with a tectonic history. A problem with this theory is that Atlantis was supposed to have submerged rapidly, following an earthquake, while the area shows a slow submergingFact|date=February 2007.

Bolivia

A hypothesis by Jim Allen, [cite web|url=http://www.thothweb.com/content-324.html|author=Jim Allen|title=Historic Atlantis in Bolivia|date=2005-12-15|accessdate=2006-08-11] argues that Plato's description exactly fits South America because he describes a level rectangular-shaped plain which he said lay in the center of the continent, next to the sea and midway along the longest side of the continent. He also described the capital city of Atlantis which was built on a small volcanic island and also called Atlantis. The city lay on the level rectangular plain, five miles from the sea and according to Plato the whole region was high above the level of the ocean sea, rising sheer out of the ocean sea to a great height on that side of the continent. Thus we have both a lost city of Atlantis as well as a lost continent of Atlantis.

Indonesia/Sundaland

Several groups independently advocate the seas around Indonesia as a site for Atlantis, which was a large unsubmerged plain known as Sundaland during the Wisconsin glaciation, which ended around 10,000 BC, and connected also to Indonesia. Key to this argument is that the "Ocean of Atlantis" refers to the ocean which encircles Eurasia and Africa, which was the historical understanding until Christopher Columbus. Natives of Sundaland who fled the rising waters or volcanic explosions eventually had contact with Ancient Egyptians, who later passed the story onto Plato who gets some but not all of the details correct, including location and time period. Some proponents argue that Atlantis myth is seen as a growth of, or in combination with Lemuria and other Eden myths. The main advocate of this theory is the Brazilian professor of nuclear physics Arysio Nunes dos Santos. [cite book
last = Dos Santos
first = Arysio Nunes
authorlink =
title = Atlantis, The Lost Continent Finally Found
publisher = Atlantis Publications
date= 2005-08-01
doi =
id = ISBN 0-9769550-0-8 ]

Cuba

Recent underwater discoveries off the west coast of Cuba have led some to speculate on an Atlantean connection. However, even before these discoveries were announced, author Andrew Collins had explored the Cuba connection in a book titled "Gateway to Atlantis." Collins supports his hypothesis with indirect historical and geographical evidence. He finally suggests present-day Isle of Youth and the shallow sea bottom that surrounds it as a possible location for Atlantis. [cite book
last = Collins
first = Andrew
authorlink = Andrew Collins
title = Gateway to Atlantis: The Search for the Source of a Lost Civilization
publisher = Carroll & Graf Publishers
date= 2002-02-09
doi =
id = ISBN 0-7867-0963-4 ]

Mexico

Mexico has also been subject to Gene Matlock hypothesis who argues that he found Atlantis there. Basing on etymology, he suggest in his "The last Atlantis book" [cite book
last = Matlock
first = Gene
authorlink = Gene Matlock
title = The Last Atlantis Book You'll Ever Have to Read!: The Atlantis-Mexico-India
publisher = Dandelion Books
date= 2002-09-10
doi =
id = ISBN 1-893302-20-2 ] that the Sanskrit language spoken in the Indian subcontinent is the father of most world-class languages to explain the meaning of "Atlantis" and from there he makes a connection between Mexico and India. [cite web|url=http://www.viewzone.com/atlantis2.html|author=Gene Matlock|title=Why Not Look for A-Tlan-Tis in Mexico?|date=|accessdate=2006-08-11]

See also

* Atlantis in art, literature and popular culture

References and notes

Further reading

* Shirley Andrews, "Atlantis". Llewellyn Publications, 2002. ISBN 1-56718-023-X
* Ashe, Geoffrey, "Atlantis : lost lands, ancient wisdom / Geoffrey Ashe". New York, N.Y., Thames and Hudson; 1992. ISBN 0-500-81039-7
* Atlantis Conference Milos 2005 'Proceedings of the International Conference "The Atlantis Hypothesis: Searching for a Lost Land" ', Athen 2007 ISBN 978-960-89882-1-7
* Charles Berlitz, "The Bermuda Triangle"
* Donnelly, Ignatius L., "". New York, Harper, 1882. LCCN 06001749
* Paul Dunbavin, "Atlantis of the West: The Case For Britain's Drowned Megalithic Civilization", ISBN 0-7867-1145-0

* Erlingsson, Ulf, " [http://atlantisinireland.com/ Atlantis from a Geographer's Perspective: Mapping the Fairy Land] ". Lindorm Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0-9755946-0-5
* Flem-Ath, Rand & Wilson, Colin, "The Atlantis Blueprint", 2000.
* Flem-Ath, Rand & Flem-Ath, Rose, "When The Sky Fell".
* Galanopoulos, Angelos Geōrgiou, and Edward Bacon, "Atlantis; the truth behind the legend". Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill; 1969. LCCN 71080738 //r892
* Joseph, Frank, "The Destruction of Atlantis: Compelling Evidence of the Sudden Fall of the Legendary Civilization". Bear & Company, 2002. ISBN 1-879181-85-1
* Ley, Willy, "Another look at Atlantis, and fifteen other essays". Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday; 1969. LCCN 69011988
*Gene Matlock, "The last Atlantis book you’ll ever have to read: the Atlantis-Mexico-India connection". Tempe, AZ: Dandelion Books, 2001.
* Mifsud, Anton, Simon Mifsud, Chris Agius Sultana, and Charles Savona Ventura, "Echoes of Plato's Island". (2nd edition) Malta, 2001. ISBN 99932-15-01-5
* Spence, Lewis "The Problem of Atlantis, London, 1924
* Zangger, Eberhard, ""The Flood from Heaven: Deciphering the Atlantis legend". Sidgwick & Jackson, 1992, ISBN 0-688-11350-8.
* Zeilinga de Boer, Jelle, et al., "Volcanoes in human history : the far-reaching effects of major eruptions". "The Bronze Age eruption of Thera : destroyer of Atlantis and Minoan Crete?". Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press; 2002.

External links

Providing general information or theory

* [http://www.atlantisarchives.org The Atlantis Archives]
* [http://www.atlantischannel.com/page_1166822843562.html Atlantis Channel]
* [http://www.lost-civilizations.net/atlantis.html lost-civilizations.net]
* [http://milos.conferences.gr/?Atlantis2005 International Conference " Atlantis 2005 ", Milos/Greece]
* [http://atlantis2008.conferences.gr/ International Conference " Atlantis 2008 ", Athens/Greece]
* [http://www.atlantis-scout.de/charter.htm Atlantis Research Charter about methods of Atlantis research]
* [http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa090301a.htm about.com]

upporting a specific location

* [http://www.flem-ath.com/del1.htm Antarctica was Atlantis]
* [http://www.blavatsky.net/science/atlantis/atlantis.htm Atlantis in the Atlantic] based on writings of Helena Blavatsky
* [http://atlantisinireland.com Atlantis was inspired by Silver Pit / Dogger Bank / Ireland / West Europe - Ulf Erlingsson's website]
* [http://www.black-sea-atlantis.com Atlantis was in the Black Sea]
* [http://www.discoveryofatlantis.com Atlantis was near Cyprus - Robert Sarmast's website]
* [http://www.atlantis-scout.de/atlantis_sicily.htm Franke 2008: Atlantis = Sicily]
* [http://www.geocities.com/webatlantis/ Bolivia was Atlantis - Jim Allen's arguments]
* [http://www.laatlantida.cl/ Israel was Atlantis] (In Spanish) Jaime Manuschevich's website
* [http://www.GeorgeosDiazMontexano.com/ Plato's Atlantis: an Iberian-Mauretanian Emporium. The Metropolis before of the mouth of Gibraltar]
* [http://www.atlan.org/ Indonesia/Sundaland was Atlantis - Prof. Arysio Nunes Santos' website]
* [http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/kuhne Tartessos was Atlantis]

Challenging the story

* [http://www.csicop.org/sb/2001-09/atlantis.html Atlantis: No way, No how, No where] " — Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
* [http://skepdic.com/atlantis.html Skeptics dictionary]

News

*ANSA News, " [http://www.ansamed.info/en/spain/news/ME03.YAM19595.html Archaeology: Search for Tartessos-Atlantis in southern Spain] ". Jul 17, 2007.
*BBC News, " [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4153008.stm Tsunami clue to 'Atlantis' found] ". August 15, 2005.
*BBC News, " [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3766863.stm Satellite images 'show Atlantis' in Spain] ". June 6, 2004.
*BBC News, " [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4011545.stm Have scientists really found the lost city of Atlantis?] ". November 15, 2004.
*BBC News, " [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1554000/1554594.stm Atlantis 'obviously near Gibraltar'] ", September 20, 2001.
*PRGB News, " [http://pr-gb.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=531&Itemid=9 Tartessus - Atlantis. They look for its rests in Andalusia. The search of Tartessus in Doñana, Huelva, and a concentric circular city - identical to the Acropolis of the Atlantis - found in Jaen, could throw tracks for the Atlantis.] ". May 14, 2007.
*PRWeb News, " [http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/7/prweb413455.htm Atlantis and Tartessus--Norway Scientific Institutions Recognize Spanish Paleographical Hypothesis] ". July 20, 2006.
*PRWeb News, " [http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/7/prweb413458.htm The Arab Authors Located to the Atlantis Island and the Amazonian Island in Andalusia] ". July 20, 2006.