Posted on 08/12/2005 1:02:33 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Plato's account of how the fabled city of Atlantis sank below the surface of the ocean has scientific grounding, according to a seafloor survey of an island west of the Straits of Gibraltar.
Dr Marc-André Gutscher of the University of Western Brittany in France performed a detailed mapping of the seafloor on Spartel Island, already proposed as a candidate for the origin of the Atlantis legend in 2001 by French geologist Professor Jacques Collina-Girard.
Lying 60 metres beneath the surface in the Gulf of Cadiz, the island is right "in front of the Pillars of Hercules", or the Straits of Gibraltar, as stated by Plato.
Analysis of sedimentary deposits reveals a large earthquake and a tsunami hit the island about 12,000 years ago.
This is roughly when the Greek philosopher's writings indicate the city was destroyed, Gutscher reports in the current issue of the journal Geology.
"Geological records revealed that in the geographic region chosen by Plato for his narrative, there are recurrent great earthquakes [magnitude 8.5-9] which create enormous tsunamis, with waves 5-15 metres in height. One such catastrophic event occurred around 10,000 BC," says Gutscher.
Even though explorers have searched for the sunken island in no less than 40 different places, no evidence of Atlantis has ever been found. Every clue about the fabled island goes back to Plato's account, written in about 400 BC.
The words of Plato
The philosopher claims that two centuries earlier, Egyptian priests had told the Greek statesman Solon of a flourishing civilisation outside "the pillars of Hercules".
When the people of Atlantis became wicked and decadent, the gods punished them by sending "violent earthquakes and floods".
"The power came forth out the Atlantic Ocean ... In a single day and night of misfortune ... the island of Atlantis disappeared in the depths of the sea," writes Plato.
Gutscher says the type of destruction Plato describes is a very accurate description of a "sudden, catastrophic destruction associated with a great earthquake", like the famous Great Lisbon earthquake that ravaged the southern Iberian region in 1755, with associated tsunami heights reaching 10 metres.
Indeed sedimentary records reveal that catastrophic events like the 1755 Lisbon earthquake occur every 1500-2000 years in the Gulf of Cadiz.
An unusually thick turbidite, a thick, coarse-grained deposit resulting from sand and mud shaken up by underwater avalanches, was dated to around 10,000 BC, around the same time as Plato's account.
Layers of turbidite also reveal that eight earthquakes occurred in the area after Atlantis sunk.
Each earthquake would have resulted in a drop of the sea floor by several metres, making Spartel higher by 40 metres by 12,000 years ago. The island could have measured five by two kilometres.
"If inhabited, it would have probably been by simple fishermen, certainly not the advanced Bronze Age culture described by Plato," says Gutscher.
"Atlantis is a myth," Professor Christos Doumas, director of Akrotiri Excavations in Santorini, summarised at the conference on Atlantis on the Greek island of Milos, last month.
The conference highlighted 24 criteria that a geographical area must satisfy to qualify as a site where Atlantis could have existed.
Among several other oddities, the island must have sheltered a literate population with metallurgical and navigational skills, hot springs, northerly winds, elephants, enough people for an army of 10,000 chariots and 1200 ships, and a ritual of bull sacrifice.
"No single proposed location in the world satisfies all these 24 criteria. At least the Spartel hypothesis offers a geologically plausible scenario for the type of catastrophic destruction described by Plato in this region of the world," Gutscher says.
Gotta hand it to these academics. They have a deep understanding of things that us mere mortals cannot grasp.
Professor Christos Doumas = Part Pooper.
Yet Another Mything Civilization Report
Agree. Ancient Turf battle..."We were here first."
"Rocks Add Weight to Atlantis Debate"
Yeah, well, they rarely make effective flotation devices. Nothing new here folks, move along.
read later bump
And what is the other part?
so atlantis is a myth and evolution is a fact?
i'll believe in atlantis long before i believe humans evolved from monkeys. (except when i look at helen thomas and other member of MSM)
Atlantis is always placed near "the Pillars of Hercules". Trouble is, there are many proposed locations for the Pillars. I doubt that the Straits of Gibraltar would be the location. It's just my guess that us common folk fall for the trap that Atlantis must have been located in or very near to the Atlantic Ocean. If you really think about it the Ocean probably got it's name much later after the legend had a chance to get very garbled.
Atlantis = metaphor
I too, was once a reader of proof. Normally I would not point out an error, unless it is an error embedded in some lefty rant. There was an opportunity for a cheap laugh in this instance, and I cannot resist a cheap laugh.
ATLANTIS
Donovan
The continent of Atlantis was an island
which lay before the great flood
in the area we now call the Atlantic Ocean.
So great an area of land, that from her western shores
those beautiful sailors journeyed
to the South and the North Americas with ease,
in their ships with painted sails.
To the East Africa was a neighbour, across a short strait of sea miles.
The great Egyptian age is but a remnant of The Atlantian culture.
The antediluvian kings colonised the world
All the Gods who play in the mythological dramas
In all legends from all lands were from fair Atlantis.
Knowing her fate, Atlantis sent out ships to all corners of the Earth.
On board were the Twelve:
The poet, the physician, the farmer, the scientist,
The magician and the other so-called Gods of our legends.
Though Gods they were -
And as the elders of our time choose to remain blind
Let us rejoice and let us sing and dance and ring in the new
Hail Atlantis!
Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be,
Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be,
Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be.
Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be,
Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be.
My antediluvian baby, oh yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah,
I wanna see you some day
My antediluvian baby, oh yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah,
My antediluvian baby,
My antediluvian baby, I love you, girl,
Girl, I wanna see you some day.
My antediluvian baby, oh yeah
I wanna see you some day, oh
My antediluvian baby.
My antediluvian baby, I wanna see you
My antediluvian baby, gotta tell me where she gone
I wanna see you some day
Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, oh yeah
Oh glub glub, down down, yeah
My antediluvian baby, oh yeah yeah yeah yeah
"Atlantis is a myth"...Yasar Arafat.
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